October 20, 2012 10:24 am

From my story today, most Seattle players are using the three days off this weekend to get in a mini-vacation or reconnect with family and friends.

After the Seahawks’ contest against Detroit on Oct. 28, Seattle will settle into a second-half schedule that includes home games against Minnesota and the New York Jets before a bye in Week 11, the latest Seattle has had a bye week since 2000.

While Seattle finishes with five of its last eight games at home, they also face a potentially more difficult schedule. Seattle’s final nine opponents have a combined record of 31-22 (58.5 percent).

The Seahawks’ first seven opponents have a combined record of 21-20 (51.2 winning percentage).

Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston reports that Seahawks defensive tackle Jason Jones was fined $15,750 by the league for his helmet-to-helmet hit of quarterback Tom Brady in the third quarter of Sunday’s game. Jones was penalized for unnecessary roughness on the play.

Tim Booth of the Associated Press writes that Seattle’s problems on offense don’t all lead to Russell Wilson. “We are going to come back Monday and watch this film, and we are going to be real critical,” Seattle wide receiver Golden Tate said. “We have to figure something out. It is not over, the season is not over. We still have a long way to go. We can’t let this set us back.”

Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com writes that the San Francisco head coach Jim Harbaugh is complaining that the Seahawks corners are getting away with illegal contact.

ESPN’s Mike Sando writes that Seattle has nine weeks to figure out the Niners, when they meet San Francisco again on Dec. 23.

Danny O’Neil of the Seattle Times offers three things that the Seahawks learned, and three they are still figuring out from Thursday’s game. O’Neil:“Russell Wilson failed to complete a pass in the third quarter, the second time this season that has happened, and he had three completions for a total of 19 yards in the second half. As coachPete Carroll said after the game, 9-for-23 passing is not going to get it done in the NFL. Not even if you have an above-average running game and very good — not yet great — defense.”

Clare Farnsworth of Seahawks.com writes that Seattle learned some tough lessons on Thursday. Farnsworth: “The Seahawks are 3-0 at CenturyLink Field this season, with Wilson throwing six touchdown passes and no interceptions – highlighted by his 16-of-26, 293-yard, three-TD performance against the Patriots on Sunday. The Seahawks are now 1-3 on the road, with Wilson throwing two TD passes and seven interceptions – lowlighted by his 9-of-23, 122-yard, one-pick effort against the 49ers’ No. 1-ranked defense as the Seahawks failed to score a touchdown for the first time this season.”

Bill Barnwell of Grantland writes that the NFC West is no longer the joke of the NFL. Barnwell: Even if the NFC West fades a bit after its hot start — and it seems likely that at least the Cardinals will do so over the upcoming weeks — it’s clear that the league’s most embarrassing division has worked its way out of the basement. The Niners have arguably the league’s best coach and a handful of players from the top 50 trade value list. The Cardinals have a more tantalizing asset than anyone on that deep Niners roster in Patrick Peterson. The Seahawks have a devastating young defense and the league’s best home-field advantage.”

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About

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

Feeds

This team needs the rest. Carp look a little gimpy Thursday. Moffitt can use the extra time. Baldwin’s ankle needs it. The defense in general really needs a rest.

Moving forward, SF laid out an effective blueprint on how to run on Seattle: inside traps, counters, and crack toss runs. Of all players, I would think Wagner will learn the most from the film. For the first time all season, he played like a rookie. Difficulty shedding blocks, defending the wrong gap, and difficulty dropping to the correct level against the pass. He’s very talented and a quick study so I’d expect him to learn from it and not repeat those same mistakes.

I’d give the Seahawks a 40% chance to win the road games and 60% for the home games. @Detroit & @Chicago will be tough and home against the Vikes & 49ers will be tough.

If everyone does their job in the other games and we split the 4 “hard” games, along with a little, maybe a lot of luck, the Hawks could potentially finish the season 7-2… And 11-5 could win us the division.

Your posts yesterday were fantastic. You broke down what the majority of us watched during the gave to explain to ACID, chuck and Radeon (Ewalters)… Nice try Radeon, funny how you leave, some mystery new guy shoes up, and your signature drivel shoes up again. Easy to see as you have written the same thing over and over for months… Hahaha on you bro… So funny…

Anyways 77, I was wondering if you could pass a few if your thoughts along concerning the trap defensive plays, and where the fundamental assignments were getting blown up to give Gore such monster holes that even I could have picked up some positive yardage with my walker…
I don’t have the ability to research the came.
And also, as someone mentioned earlier, it was noted that Bruno was left “on the island”, while the other linemen were doubling up and the such, not really picking up the total rushing package, such as the blitzes , etc…

Again, your analysis was truly insightful, and , while it won’t, should silence the trolls…
But I guess we all know better then that.

Interesting comment from Tate. I have an intern that works for me who always tries to say the right things too. But he won’t do anything to help anyone else out either. Pete has got to be completely frustrated with this kid, but he also can’t give him unlimited rope.

Sluggo,
Obviously you are not as faithful to this blog as you have lead people to believe you are.I have been on this forum for the past 7-8 years(RADEoN maybe longer)and you accuse us of being the same person lol…that’s absolutely laughable.

This team is going to be mediocre this year. With Wilson’s inexperience, the offense is going to be hit or miss. I understand he can’t be blamed for the drop passes in the 49ers game, but you also have to be able to make plays when it counts in the 4th quarter. The big plays are great, but can you really expect that to happen every week? You need an experience QB that can sustain drives and make plays when it’s needed. This isn’t a knock on Wilson. I just don’t think you can expect the defense to carry this team week in, week out. The offense has got to step it up.

Tate is gifted player,when he wants to be. He should call up Jerry Rice & “How do I catch with my hands not my body?”. Also how to run precise routes. I know has a man-crush on Tate. Time to get real the dude is a sometime Dud. Trade him for Dwayne Bowe (KC).

Eric,
Offenses talk about being on schedule & getting in 3rd & short situations because the defense has to respect the run and the pass. Why on so many 3rd & less-than-4’s are we going shotgun with an empty backfield?? Kind of defeats the purpose of 3rd & 2. #DrivingMeNuts

Sluggo,
If I’m not mistaken, RADEoN gave you guys his FB info.I’ll do the same.My name is Elton Big-Easy Walters.Look us up and please provide evidence,(not speculation) that shows we are the same person.

I love our Seahawks!
I like reading these posts, not all of them are worth reading, but the passion is there!

ACIB, RADEoN, Ewalters, all have input, some of their points are over emphasized, but still valid points AND they love our Hawks

I like Duke’s input and 77 had some great analysis!

What I don’t like is the bickering that goes on!

State your opinion, your fact, and move on

I like RW and I like Pete. Do I like everything they do NO!
I think Pete has a good defensive mind! He really needs to find an offensive mind to take this team over the top.

Really sad at our lack of receivers that can play, they all seem mediocre. Tate has some physical tools, but lacks the follow through. Seems to get into jump ball scenario’s a lot. Loved his block that he got fined for! But I feel like he should be on a different team, he just does not give me the impression of a west coast receiver.

These next two games are going to be huge for us with regards to the playoff race. Especially the game at home against the vikings. If we were to go two and one in these next three games, it’s the Jets game that I would rather see us lose. 3-0 would be huge! 1-2 or 0-3 will see this Blog implode. Lol.

Please review the bubble screen passes to Obomanu, and ask yourself Bevvell and Cable, if he’s the guy you want. running this play He’s slow and has no moves at all. Dude tripped over his feet trying to make a play with tons of space in front of him.

Why your at it, review all bubble screens called this season and see what our success rate is. Just trying to help you guys at, look at the film and statistics on those plays.

I’ve been very hard on Sidney because of his injury prone body. However, he looks good and should be pounding the table for the rock. Hopefully they figure out how to get him the ball each quarter, not just the 1st and 4th. They should set a goal to get him at least 5 receptions per game.

The QB is an issue that isn’t going to change. Why keep beating your drums? What about some thoughts on our other shortcomings , the real ones that can and will get addressed by the coaching staff in the next week. Why is the online weak in pass protection? Who is missing their assignments? Why did the trap play up the middle set Gore up again and again for HUGE second half gains? Do our LB’s suck?? If you grade them like you do the QB, then by your logic, our LB corps are horrid!! Or was that a coaching or scheme issue??
We know your position on QB, what are some thoughts about ANYTHING besides that?

“The QB is an issue that isn’t going to change. Why keep beating your drums? What about some thoughts on our other shortcomings , the real ones that can and will get addressed by the coaching staff in the next week. Why is the online weak in pass protection? Who is missing their assignments? Why did the trap play up the middle set Gore up again and again for HUGE second half gains? Do our LB’s suck?? If you grade them like you do the QB, then by your logic, our LB corps are horrid!! Or was that a coaching or scheme issue??
We know your position on QB, what are some thoughts about ANYTHING besides that?”

Because our other shortcomings aren’t as crippling as our QB issue. The only people who can defend that dwarf’s terrible play are under extreme delusion who find it their mission to irrationally defend every Seahawk player. Who cares about SF’s trap plays, they only scored 13 DAMN POINTS! That is LOWER than our season average, which was already elite! If we only gave up 13 points a game, we’d have one of the best defenses in NFL history. Our OFFENSE is the problem and I refuse to be silenced as long as our midget QB keeps dancing around in the pocket with no pressure, making terrible reads, arm-punting many throws, and leading us to no points. Seriously, you guys should hate yourselves for intentionally putting on the blinders and trying to spin a 9/23, 122 yard, 0 TD 1 INT performance as good. There is no reasonable way Matt Flynn could do worse and you all know it deep down.

The linebacker question is an apt one, sluggo42. Dukeshire, in the first post, did bring that issue up. As he noted, Wagner did shoot the wrong gap at times. He was also swallowed up by Niner lineman on occasion; he had a hard time shedding those blocks. In general, the front four are supposed to keep those huge, O lineman off the backers. Were they tired or just slow adjusting to the Niners scheme?

Wagner is a rookie and, as Dukeshire noted, will learn from this. I think so far, he, like Wilson, is doing a pretty decent job for a rookie. I would guess the coaching staff was trying to get him up to speed on the sideline between series.

The thing that stands out to me, more than any game, was seeing Sidney Rice flip out. He knew RW threw that pick, and Rice was in a position to make that play, and he absolutely knew it. Complain about drops all you want, but RW needs to make better decisions about who to throw the ball to… Triple coverage on a receiver who sits, is a bad choice. I think Edwards should start over Tate… I have been saying that, and I also think butler should have been retained over Tate. Tate behaves like the best WR in the NFL.

Here’s the thing about that particular play, RADEoN. There was a Niner closing fast on Wilson from his right; I believe it was Patrick Willis. Rice was also running on the right side of the field. Willis closing fast did two things, it made Wilson hurry his throw, and it also took away the right side of the field. Wilson was hammered about a half-second after he released that ball. Granted, it was a bad decision and a bad throw, but Wilson will do doubt learn from it, which, in the long run, is going to be very beneficial to the club.

Sidney Rice can be frustrated and throw his mouth-piece, but he doesn’t know what’s happening back at the QB. All he sees is a ball thrown into triple coverage and an INT when he is open. Anyone would be frustrated in the moment. After watching film, it’s possible his outlook about that play has changed.

“Granted, it was a bad decision and a bad throw, but Wilson will do doubt learn from it, which, in the long run, is going to be very beneficial to the club.”

How about we start a veteran QB who has shown a proven ability to score points instead of dicking around with an undersized rookie in hopes that he will learn on the job? Our defense and running game is CONTENTION-WORTHY already. It’s insulting that this team is being held back by stunning incompetence in the passing game EVEN THOUGH THERE’S A VALID ALTERNATE OPTION.

I’m not sure about Tate, either; I just don’t know what to think about him. At times, he seems like a team player but mostly I think he doesn’t. I lean toward the Hawks starting Edwards though. I don’t think there is any question regarding his attitude, and I like the way he goes after the ball. I’d like to see him get more playing time.

Sluggo,
That was just a game our d line got manhandled.Bobby Wagner definitely played a terrible game.Even with those two things going against them the only surrendered 13 points! To not play your best and only give up 1 td is quite impressive.

It has been the inability of the offense that I credit for the D getting gashed.Those guys played a great game against the PATS, then have to come back four days later to spend majority of the 2nd half on the field.Taking into account how the team was running the ball.

Sluggo,
That was just a game our d line got manhandled.Bobby Wagner definitely played a terrible game.Even with those two things going against them,they only surrendered 13 points! To not play your best and only give up 1 td is quite impressive.

It was the inability of the offense that I credit for the D getting gashed.Those guys played a great game against the PATS, then have to come back four days later to spend majority of the 2nd half on the field.Taking into account how the team was running the ball.

1st half, was all hawks.Offense was moving the ball, D was getting off the field, and still at the half we had 6 points.

2nd half, the offense continued to run well and the QB only completes 3 passes for 19 yards.A performance like that is not acceptable.

Right, the D spent the majority of the second-half on the field, but there are two sides to that coin. I seem to recall the D forced the Niners into several third and long situations and subsequently failed to stop them. This allowed the Niners to gain momentum. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Hawks D is very good, and they are going to get better. But that’s just it, there is room for improvement. And consistently getting opposing teams off the field on third-and-long is a prime example of how they can improve.

Goose,
I understand that’s what Carroll said, but looking at that particular play it looked like Rice was wide open.So where was the interference? Not asking you, just what I asked myself once Pete said that.

Are you sure, Ewalters? I just remember them showing him at the end of the play throwing his mouthpiece, which is when he was by himself. I don’t remember if they showed his route on replay. And I deleted the game quickly, so I can’t replay it. Thankfully…

Goose,
I think you misunderstood my wording in that particular sentence.I said that also based on the replay and also reading the post game blogs.It just seemed by his actions like he was angry over the turnover.I also remember him exploding after the drop in the end zone against the Cards.

Maybe that’s just his way of expressing frustration.Which worries me, because I remember Housh doing those exact same things.

HOW DO I MAKE MY POINT????? Aaron Curry lover, yes once again you scream about the height of the qb, calling him midget, and dwarf, all nicknames you obviously picked up on the playground at recess. This is the same tired spew you’ve had going for months. I’m sure you would literally need to look up to Wilson based on your childish rants. Football is a team game. 11 guys have to do their job for EVERY player to do well and win. The QB pulls the trigger, but if the line misses a block or in this weeks game, receivers drop perfect passes that kill drives and turn the ball over to the other team, we don’t score and don’t win.
First quarter, in 9er territory. Wilson throws a perfect pass to Turbin who is about 2 yards behind the defense. That play is a touchdown if he catches it. Drop. Field Goal. Not on Wilson.

Drops happen, it’s part of the game. 3 points and at least the team gets points on the road. The Tate drop on 3rd and 2 right in his hands for a sure first down. That play would have gained at least 6 yards and brought us into scoring range. The game was only a four point game at that point. 6-10 I believe. Plenty of time to march forward and secure the win. That was the right call and the perfect throw by the starting QB. Not on him. That was on Tate’s lack of focus. Which by the way would help you maybe find another topic.

By your logic, If Flynn is throwing those passes, Turbin and Tate magically make those catches and we win the game. Is that what you’ve been trying to use your words for?

Now Wilson didn’t look good for long stretches the second half. But neither did the team. Sure the defense only gave up 13 points. Another impressive showing. But dude, Gore only ran 16 times that game, averaged over 8 yards a carry and would have killed us if they weren’t trying to restore Smith confidence from the Giants game by having him throw some. Smith looked like crap and we just didn’t get to him enough early. I watched the game with three 9er fans and they though their QB was terrible and that our guy looked better.

The Wilson interception was junk and really his second truly bad pass this season. The first was the pick six against Carolina. Bad throw and yet Wilson and the team came back, on the road to win that game. Before you go all bat crazy, yes the defense played awesome that game and made the come from behind victory possible.

The play calling against the 9ers was as bad as it’s been all year. No designs for Miller and the tight ends, one pass to Rice as he was being used a decoy all game. Piss poor by the OC and the coaching staff. I know you blame Wilson, cause he gets to change the plays at the line of scrimmage like Peyton Manning. Oh that’s right, he RUNS the plays that are called. Not a lot of room for improv.

There is Not one logical post that will improve your complete lack of football or team knowledge. Keep calling the QB names and by all means, love that caps lock on your keyboard. You’re the little engine that can’t! AC says he wants his jersey back.

Edwards is on the far left, Rice is on the far right. Wilson takes the snap, it’s a playaction fake. Edwards and Rice both start sprinting straight ahead. Wilson glances at Rice, who is still running in a straight line and hasn’t finished his route yet. Wilson then looks left towards Edwards, and then locks on despite obvious double coverage. Meanwhile, Rice has sharply turned left, almost at a 90 degree angle, and is running towards the middle of a field like a drag route, and he is absolutely open, with single coverage. But Wilson ignores this and lofts that horrendous arm-punt of a pass into what becomes triple coverage. There is pressure on the play but it arrives after Wilson has already thrown the ball.

This is a problem that will almost certainly never go away; Wilson has to get extraordinary arc on his deep passes to compensate for his short height and get it over the linemen, and that leads to FAR too much loft under his passes, leaving defenders a lot of time to diagnose the play and react.

I didn’t see any interference on Rice and this seems like posturing by Carroll to hide the frustration that Rice, and the rest of the team, is feeling due to a rookie making rookie mistakes. Just like how he was hiding Flynn’s injury as an excuse to shield Wilson from calls to be removed from his starting job.

confucious, couldn’t agree more problem is ACIB doesn’t want debate he is a sad little boy living in mommy’s basement who just likes to troll on in here and cause waves. he isn’t interested in healthy debate he isn’t capable of one.

ACIB “Wilson a get out of jail free card for his own ghastly performances. Drops never stopped Matt Hasselbeck your words

really? your opinion means so much to you that you try to rewrite history to make your point. the hawks lost games because of those drops. does the name koren robinson sound familiar?

Sorry, but this is absolute nonsense and drivel. Wilson is certainly not ascending week by week in some linear progression, he remains mediocre at best. His one “good” game of the season was against the NFL’s worst secondary where he had a majority of his game’s performance hinge on 3 or 4 passes. We have NOT seen anything remotely approaching a consistent rhythm of a passing attack by him and I guarantee we never will. He is too short and too overmatched to play quarterback at high level in the pro level.

pats were not the worst 27 th actually look up stats before you talk out your ass. wilson also had a good first half against the 9ers and the same things he showed in the pats game. again the drops affected the score and wilsons stats. i wonder if you really pay attention to the games? he had rhythm several points in the game then a drop on a good pass, oh but that’s right you don’t think drops can throw a QB rhythm off or affect his confidence. your arguments are weak your guarantees are laughable and your knowledge of football is a joke.

again ACIB here are the questions answer them or go away.

1. what makes you so sure you have it right and flynn would be better?
facts not hyperbole or senseless ranting.

2. they make the switch and it is no better. what then? if flynn with his 2 games pro experience fails what then? on previous posts you have suggested they then stick with flynn. why does that make more sense then running with the rookie? again don’t rant state it concisely to the point with no insults.

3. are you capable of being an adult and posting in a mature manner or are you a sociopath that can not control himself feeling the need to bully and denigrate?

funny part is i am not completely sold that wilson will be great. your behavior thou ACIB makes me point out the flaws in your statements.

what makes your rants even more pointless is the fact that flynn is not the starting QB wilson is and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

“1. what makes you so sure you have it right and flynn would be better?
facts not hyperbole or senseless ranting.”

I’ve said this countless of times but I keep getting shouted down by blog trolls who largely respond “NUH-UH RW IS A SPECIAL PLAYER ACIB UR SUCH A MEANIE WAHHH”:

– Flynn has shown concrete evidence that he can manipulate plays at the line.
– Flynn has shown ability to burn a blitz.
– Flynn can actually lead a passing attack that isn’t “deep bomb or bust”.
– Flynn is taller.
– Flynn is very accurate.
– Flynn definitely steps up into the pocket more instinctually than Wilson, who often does the backpedal and rollout thing in the face of pressure.
– Flynn has a very impressive quick release.
– Flynn doesn’t need to move around in the pocket and seek a throwing lane to compensate for height on many of his passes like Wilson.
– Flynn consistently goes through his progressions methodically.

“2. they make the switch and it is no better. what then? if flynn with his 2 games pro experience fails what then? on previous posts you have suggested they then stick with flynn. why does that make more sense then running with the rookie? again don’t rant state it concisely to the point with no insults.”

Then so what? We are NOT getting adequate QB as it is; if Flynn fails, then it’s a wash, and I will stop demanding he gets his opportunity (that he deserves far more than Wilson, I might add) and gladly watch Wilson try to develop for the rest of the season. Although this is no evidence whatsoever that Flynn would be worse. It’s hard to be worse than a quarterback who is playing at a bottom 5 level right now.

ACIB, It seems you have to do that every single time for guys like Hawk77 to actually understand.And even with all the evidence you provide, he will still find a way to puncture and flip your statement,in order to prove Russell Wilson is playing elite football,that has yet to reach the stat sheet, all because the play calling and receivers who are well covered most times, are not making this tough catches Russell tends to throw to them.

Excellent breakdown on the play ACIB. I definitely enjoy your posts post-curry-mortem. Great points on Flynn.

However your assessment on RW needing “extraordinary arc” on deep throws due to his height seem largely exaggerated. Perhaps if Russell Wilson was disproportionately smaller as in 3 feet below average rather than 3 inches would an extraordinary arc be needed. His height affects his vision and his trajectory on his short throws, the further away the less of an adjustment is needed…

It is what it is, a bad decision and a bad throw. I think Wilson has proved that his longer throws can be viewed as a strength rather than a weakness

I am no RWilson apologist and I also believe that at the start of the season the better decision would have been to start with Flynn. But to go back on the decision now and sit Wilson would be more of a setback than a step forward

Carroll did indeed say that 9-23 is not good enough in the NFL, but he was specifically talking about the team, not RW. And he called out the dropped passes in the same run-on sentence.

It seems to me the wrong question is being asked here. It is not a matter of whether RW meets the NFL standard of a QB, it is whether RW is where he should be in terms of rookie QB development. If you want to compare RW to a vet QB, then really the debate is not about RW, it is about whether the team should develop a rookie QB into a vet or not. My personal opinion is that RW is ahead of the rookie QB curve, and I also think a rookie does not become a vet by carrying the clipboard. He has to learn in the trenches.

We agree there. The decision is made to play Wilson and let him develop. I’m all in on that. I just get frustrated when anyone dares to question his performance we eat shouted down, called names and invited to leave.

I won’t be bullied by 77, Georgia, or slug go into accepting Thursday nights performance as acceptable. In the ongoing development of Wilson as the long term answer at QB it was OK, but not good.

If hawksince77 wants to say that Wilson played a perfectly good game then he has set the standard bar pretty low. If that same performance happened last year with TJack people would be storming VMAC demanding change.

But because it is Wilson we are supposed to just accept a mediocre to poor performance or we are trolls.

I will not be silenced in demanding better from the guy that the team has pegged as our QB of the future.

OregonHawk- SF ran a lot of inside trap. Thats a very effective play when you face a lighter d line, as Seattle is when Jones is in, and requires the Mike backer to be extraordinarily sound, technically. They were able to exploit Seattle in that way. In addition, SF has one of the great young linemen in football, Mike Iupati. He’s a beast and when he pulls, he’s even better. In addition, they doubled Mebane fairly often. In short, they out schemed and wore out Seattle. I would expect Seattle to tack the box in Decemer and make Smith beat them. I thought that would be a mistake Thursday, and I was wrong.

great and this means ? everything you say may or may not be true every other team that needed a qb chose to either draft or stick with what they had at QB.
that doesn’t say much about flynn regardless of what you say.

– Flynn has shown concrete evidence that he can manipulate plays at the line.
wilson will learn
– Flynn has shown ability to burn a blitz.
so has wilson
– Flynn can actually lead a passing attack that isn’t “deep bomb or bust”.
wilson has shown he can make any throw
– Flynn is taller.
so what
– Flynn is very accurate.
short to intermediate most times. throws up lame ducks most long balls.
– Flynn definitely steps up into the pocket more instinctually than Wilson, who often does the backpedal and rollout thing in the face of pressure.
then he would get killed behind this line
– Flynn has a very impressive quick release.
and?
– Flynn doesn’t need to move around in the pocket and seek a throwing lane to compensate for height on many of his passes like Wilson.
funny thing i see wilson move more from pressure than looking for a passing lane. if the pocket is clean he has lanes. problem is this line isn’t good at pass blocking on a consistent basis.

-Flynn consistently goes through his progressions methodically.
so does wilson when gets a chance.

chuck, i am not saying wilson’s play was great all i am saying he is a rookie went up against the number one D and got little help from his receivers.he played a pretty good first half too .did he make bad throws yes did he make way to may good/great throws that were dropped yes. it’s not all on him and acting like he should be taken out back and shot is not the solution either.

Aren’t even you getting tired of the same post day after day? Never different, just get Flynn in… Nothing different, ever. That’s what gets old. And Pete is NOT going to play Flynn regardless of how louly ACID and Rad yell. It’s just not going to happen barring injury, which we know that they wish for.

He will never play a game that’s good enough for them unless he goes 30/30 for a thousand yards and 10 TD’s.

It is the common accepted theme that many would not have had any problem with Flynn starting the season, myself included. But that’s not what happened, so I’m not going to pick to shreads every little thing the guy does wrong, because he is a rookie, and we all know that too. It’s just like a barking dog that won’t quit. Eventually it drives you crazy and you call animal control…

When will it be accepted that RW is the QB, and like it or not, it’s extremely low odds that it’s going to change.

So if the dogs keep barking, then expect the neighbors to tell it to STFU

I came out against Wilson being the starter as well and was labeled a “Wilson hater”, which is 100% false. I like the young man. Love his dedication, leadership and his confidence.

I maintain that my desire to see him sit and learn for a season or two would benefit him more than playing right now. To me, that gives him a better chance at having a long successful career.

Playing him now runs a huge risk of his development being delayed or even destroyed. The game is a step or two ahead of him right now, which is ok and understandable. Every game he struggles is one more shot at his confidence. Every play he “reads” wrong reinforces bad habits.

Worse of all, every bad game runs the risk of him losing the locker room. This is the second time Rice as had some sort of “situation” where he voiced his displeasure in the offense. The first was a couple of games ago when he said something like being embarrassed being by not being able to score touchdowns.

The same way people say “well you don’t know for sure Flynn would have done better at this point in the season” I can counter with “you DON’T know Flynn would NOT have done better at this point in the season”.

What we do know is that Flynn had a more accomplished college career and played (won) a national championship under Les Miles, a guy I’m not positive can spell offense. The team he ran at LSU was EXACTLY the same team Carroll is building in Seattle: stout defense, bruising running and accurate passing. The defenses he faced was as close to NFL talented as you can get.

Flynn spent 4 years learning behind a coaching staff that has created one of the best quarterbacks and offenses in the league. He spent time learning to correct mistakes, the speed of the game and continuing to learn defenses as well as being part of huge important games.

Carroll was excited to start Wilson because it’s been reported that a lot of coaches/GM’s joked about him taking Wilson to high in the draft.

Carroll has an ego, all coaches HAVE to have one, and he is trying to force everyone into admitting he was right soon as possible. In his haste, what happens if he Mirer’s the kid? Mirer had a great rookie season, but shouldn’t have been starting. The speed of the game was too fast. By the time his second season came around, teams had tape on him and he slowly had his confidence beaten out of him until he was not longer a starting QB.

People complain about the play calling, which I agree with. How much of it is because they are trying to “protect” Wilson? Would Bevelle have more confidence in Flynn just based on having more experience reading/understanding defenses at the line, therefore opening up the playbook more?

We don’t know the answer to that, what we do know is Carroll has said they are holding back plays.

Another reason why Wilson should be sitting is because it’s not going to hurt him. If he is a starting or franchise quarterback, he’s not going to lose it by continuing to learn from the sidelines, but playing too soon might.

GooseRocks- Thanks for posting that link to the highlights–man, was some of that painful to watch again.

ACIB- I appreciate your analysis and breakdown of the Wilson INT play, and I agree that Wilson locked on to Edwards, which he absolutely should not have done. That is what comes of being a rookie QB. However, after watching that play several times, I disagree that Rice was open enough to throw to. In fact, it appeared to me that he never actually came open. His guy seemed to stay with him all the way. Wilson appears to have a lot of confidence in Edwards’ ability to go up and grab a ball… maybe to an unrealistic degree, and he should never have thrown that ball. Again, that is a rookie mistake and can be corrected.

I also don’t agree that he puts an unusual amount of arc on the ball–enough to gives defense time to adjust. He throws a pretty strong deep ball. Try to sell that argument to the Pats secondary.

Ewalters- I think your take on what happened to the front seven on D in the second half is pretty spot on.

Ewalters – Never. But I am tiring of the nonsense that is destroying this blog. Example: you’re a black dude who lives in New Orleans. RADEoN in a white dude who lives in Pittsburgh. Yet we have to sit through another stream of BS from ignorants that proclaim you’re the same person. I love differing view points. I learn more from those with another perspective than anything else. But the way they are being expressed here is shameful and far beneath what has been established here, over time. You know what I mean? It sucks to read the same devolvment, thread after thread. Another example: Chuck cannot be any clearer about not pulling Russell but that his play is hurting this team. Yet he continually gets hammered for him calling for Flynn. Its crazy. So, I’ve stepped *way* back.

I’m with Duke. I’m taking a break from the blog. It’s time to let hawkfaninoklahoma, Georgia, hawksince77, and bbnate run the show. Just don’t disagree with them and always remember you cannot under any circumstances question any opinion that collective have or you are a troll.

I’ll be back after the season.

Go hawks and have fun with the name calling and lack of any debate or real football talk on here.

hawkfan – one could say the same thing about RW — he slid into the mid-3rd round. The “demand” for either RW or MF (draft position in RW’s case, FA interest in MF’s case) says nothing about how successful their careers will be. I think it’s unreasonable to say “Nobody wanted MF, so he must suck!” just as it’s unreasonable to say “RW was a 3rd round pick, so he must suck”. And FWIW, Philbin seemed pretty pissed off that MF went to the Hawks in an interview back during FA. Now maybe him saying “we pushed hard for him” is just BS.

Personally, outside of the NE game, RW has looked pretty much the same to me week in and week out. The team has difficulty scoring TDs and games come down to making a play or two (and even that was true in the NE game: the NE secondary doesn’t blow the bomb to Rice or the balls a bit off the mark and that’s an L). Certainly, RW is not entirely to blame but, for better or worse, the buck stops with the QB in the passing game is not working. I would like to see some sustained mediocrity, at least. Far to often, it seems like the O gets a few good drives, but then looks awful for long stretches of time. Then, you get a furious come back that is probably aided a bit by the opponent playing a bit more prevent — in the AZ and GB games, their D’s had the luxury of only need to prevent a TD.

The one thing that nobody here knows is what the Hawks are seeing on film and how RW’s grading out. Maybe there is improvement week-to-week, and I’m too casual a fan to see it. On the other hand, you’ve got stuff like the FO analysis of RW at STL that showed him locking onto receivers, missing not one but two wide open guys; not noticing 3-on-2 pre-snap, and so on. While he throws some nice balls, I still see stuff going high or behind the receiver, so his placement, to me, doesn’t look consistent. Maybe that will get better, but again, I keep seeing Rice having to jump for balls thrown to the sideline.

Also, I don’t think anybody here knows exactly what the staff was thinking when they went with RW. Certainly, they saw something, but I think ACIB brings up a reasonable point around how much of it was hope or a gut feel versus Flynn actually being beat out. Certainly, it is a fact that going into camp, MF had shown far more against in-season NFL defenses than RW had. Personally, I would have weighed those in-season results much more than playing well against D’s running a vanilla scheme with 2nd and 3rd stringers. But then again, I am not an NFL coach.

The camp structure didn’t help anyone, I think. And not to mention that MF’s second preseason start was completely wasted finding out if TO had anything left in the tank (he didn’t).

At the end of the day, they went with the rookie and we’re stuck with watching him grow. Since nobody here knows where exactly MF or RW’s ceilings are (and that includes the Seahawks staff — they may have a more informed opinion, but they don’t know either), I hope that if PC & company didn’t make the right choice (and ACIB and others would argue that he didn’t), that they get a chance to fix it. If RW finishes the season as the starter, I think MF is gone unless Seattle decides to take the cap hit to pay $$$ to their backup. That’s not such a bad outcome if PC picked correctly. But if we’re back on this board next year talking about how the pass offense stinks and missing open guys while MF is lighting it up for somebody else, that is going to really suck.

Duke, Chuck. Please don’t go. I have mostly lurked here since this was Sando’s show back in the day and reading your insights was what kept me coming back (well, that and Sando’s crazy roster spreadsheets).

Watching Wilson is like watching Cinderella. I keep waiting for the stroke of 12 when the golden carriage turns into a pumpkin. He seems too go to be true at times. Against the Niners he looked more like a rookie, and his receivers looked terrible. I wonder how Payton Manning would do with these same receivers? i wonder how Flynn would do with them? I’m willing to give the kid more slack IF he continues to grow fast. If he starts to plateau or regress…plug Flynn in and let’s see what he’s got. I’m all about winning.

I as a die hard fan was deeply saddened not seeing Flynn get a fair shot.People constantly rant about how Russell Wilson has done nothing to lose his job, but what about Flynn? He certainly didn’t do anything that wasn’t asked of him to do.He played a solid game against the Raiders after he was so called “injured”.Also, if he was injured, why didn’t they sign a 3rd stringer, in case Wilson gets hurt and Flynn can’t play?

Chuck,
You should continue to post bro.You’re one of the pioneers on this blog.

Speaking just for myself, how in any way can you take anything I have written as ‘bullying’? I have respected your comments enough to attempt to respond in a meaningful way. Because we don’t agree, or you have failed to provide a convincing argument, you feel ‘bullied’?

As I wrote yesterday, it doesn’t matter to me whether you ‘accept’ Seattle’s performance or not. Think what you want.

Then this: “If hawksince77 wants to say that Wilson played a perfectly good game then he has set the standard bar pretty low.”

Fair enough. But this is simply ridiculous: “If that same performance happened last year with TJack people would be storming VMAC demanding change.”

And then this: “But because it is Wilson we are supposed to just accept a mediocre to poor performance or we are trolls.”

When have I ever treated you like a troll, or called you names of any kind? You won’t find an example, because I never have.

There’s more: “I will not be silenced in demanding better from the guy that the team has pegged as our QB of the future.”

You haven’t heard me call for your silence. If I don’t like or respect a poster (and there are a couple of them on today) I simply don’t read their comments, let alone respond. That obviously not how I have treated you, and yet for some reason, I have ‘offended’ you:

“And I do get offended when hawksince77 tries to sell that game as a totally decent game by Wilson.”

I wasn’t trying to sell anything. I have an opinion and I did the best I could to provide the source of it. Why that would offend you, or anybody, is beyond me.

And finally:

“It’s time to let hawkfaninoklahoma, Georgia, hawksince77, and bbnate run the show. Just don’t disagree with them and always remember you cannot under any circumstances question any opinion that collective have or you are a troll.”

Why am I getting lumped in with anyone? I speak for myself, always have, and have even been permanently banned elsewhere for not submitting to the collective group-think. If you can’t conduct a simple discussion without getting so bent, perhaps you need to consider a different source for your angst.

HeinieHunter,
Peyton Manning has WRs that drop a bunch of balls each game.From the games I have seen.The difference is those guys trust in Peyton.Yes, he’s a hall of famer but people tend to sometimes think Russ Wilson is on his way far and beyond the success if any other QB.

There have been a few short QBs who had the skill to being elite, but due to their lack of height it hindered them from being what they had the potential to be.

Lastly I have to say this(tho I may be considered an idiot) but Russell Wilson reminds me of a unpolished Senaca Wallace(Wallace can actually move the ball) at this young stage in his career.Just my personal opinion guys…

“I’m with Duke. I’m taking a break from the blog. It’s time to let hawkfaninoklahoma, Georgia, hawksince77, and bbnate run the show. Just don’t disagree with them and always remember you cannot under any circumstances question any opinion that collective have or you are a troll.”

I don’t know man, I’ve been here for a long while too, and I think the above statement refelcts a bit of the my-way-or-the-highway behavior you are complaining others are doing. I haven’t read where anyone called you a troll, just people disagreeing w/you and making arguments backing their opinions; same as you, same as most everyone on here does. If someone disagrees with you, thinks Wilson should start, or thinks he’s the greatest QB of all time, why should they be precluded from making arguments and talking about that on a Seahawks fan blog?

As many have said, disagreements and arguments (excepting the stupid ad hominem ones) are what make the blog entertaining to read.

I disagree with pabuwal’s take on plenty of things (esp back in the Hasselbeck days), but the blog would be lesser without his point of view. Same with you, and anyone else who takes the time to watch the games and offer substantive comments.

Of course, it’s your prerogative as to what you want to do, but I’d miss this blog if it wasn’t around.

you know chuck then leave i am not beating you up i politely disagreed with . i have watched you all put the big ol’ shit sandwich the hawks made thursday square in his lap. it was a team loss the only one that played worth a crap on O was lynch the rest had a few good moments here and there including wilson. i thought he played a damn good first half taking into account the drops. started off well in the 3rd then another drop. at that point it fell apart for wilson. shit like that happens for a rookie. i have been giving a different perspective on wilson arguing the other side of it. while stating which QB starts doesnt matter to me. but while wilson is the starter i will stand by him a cheer him on. does this mean i am not critical but there is enough people beating him up. i am giving the what he did right side of it which there was plenty of in the first half of the game. this guy went up against the best D in the league and for a half looked pretty good. but comming on here and constantly doing nothing but piss and moan about wilson is getting old. you do what you need to do funny that you bitch that people give an argument against your point of view.
i called you a troll once and apologized for lumping you in with radeon and acib. if that isnt good enough don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

The line above from chuck_easton “I want a QB that is at the level that we expect the 4th quarter comeback and are shocked when it doesn’t happen.” is a great line and one I think all Seahawks fans want.

I mean lots of other teams expect to win when they are down in the fourth quarter. Teams with QB’s like the Mannings, Rodgers, Brees, Roslisberger, throw in Elway and Montana from the previous generation. These teams always had a chance because they had pretty good teams and top of the line QB’s. We’ve watched these guys do it over and over. It’s almost like the other team goes into a trance and moves in slow motion as passes are completed again and again. Drives move down the field and they score and win at the end. As a life long Seahawks fan, I can’t say we’ve ever had that feeling. That guy that when the game is winding down and we’re down by a couple of scores, our QB is going to make all the throws and lead us to victory.

Moon was pretty amazing and could throw the hell out of the ball, but wasn’t on the team long and unfortunately his skill and experience didn’t really translate into playoff wins or Superbowl appearances. Krieg was as scrappy as a QB ever and when hot was hard to beat. Often though he wasn’t or the team didn’t have good D. Matt Hasselbeck provided great character, heart, toughness and was a natural leader. He didn’t start out this way. As a matter of fact he was mostly terrible and lot his job a few times. His abilities improved and he learned from mistakes to become the most successful QB in francise history, taking the team to the Superbowl in 2005.

Besides the long history lesson, what does any of this have to do with chucks comment above? Plenty. This years team is being led by a rookie QB named Wilson. He beat out incredible odds to win the starting job that many of us, including me completely believed was going to be Flynn’s. I liked Flynn at GB and thought he was going to be perfect for this team with our stud running back and shut down defense. We didn’t need a QB to throw 40 times a game for 300 yards to have a chance to win. But I thought and still do that he could provide that aspect if we got into a shootout.

Back to the 4th quarter comeback comment. Fact is Wilson has already done that twice this year. With chances in every game to win at the end. EVERY game. No other rookie has ever done this. None of the greats I mentioned above. Most of them were terrible their rookies seasons. Now, maybe I’m Charlie Brown as my wife says every year and the Seahawks are Lucy, but I DID expect us to comeback and win this game against the 49er’s. Being in every game this year with the opportunity to win hasn’t happened in a long time. The fact that we haven’t been blown out by anyone is also new. Every year we’ve been smoked by a few teams and those games are over by half time. Not this year. There is not one other team in the NFL that has had the chance to win every game, except the Falcons and well, they have.

I’m not a Wilson homer. I think the expectations just need to be realistic. This team is 4 and 3 and a game out of the lead with 9 games to go. Our record is better than 75% of the league and we play a large portion of our schedule at home the rest of the way. We have to win on the road, but guys, this team, with this QB and the defense and Lynch can work and get in the playoffs.

The Giants sucked last year for the first half and figured it out at the end to win it all. I’m not saying we can replicate that success with this team, but with the overall talent and the well above average play of the rookie QB we have a chance. Yes, I’ve heard the constant argument that a veteren QB would play better, Flynn would not make those bad throws that Wilson has and we’d win every game or at least win more.

None of us will ever know that as this coaching staff made their choice. Carrol has been coaching football professionally longer than many of us have been alive. He has taken this team that was a disaster and added some incredible talent. In three years we’ve gone from an easy win for the team that played them that week to one that nobody wants to face. Sure most of us would have liked to see the rookie QB sit for a year or two and then come in and keep it going. That didn’t happen and no matter how many times we say it or write it or SHOUT it and beg for everyone to understand it…..it’s not what we have this season! You guys can bash each other over the heads with it but it won’t change that fact. Let all that crap go and buckle down and watch this team play. They will win many more games this year. They will lose some. But to be in every game after the first seven games is very impressive.

I’ve been watching this team since I was 9 years old and the only time I really felt we could go head to head with the best was our Superbowl year. That team had a great o line and love him or hate him, Shaun was an incredible back. This year’s team has a ton of potential to follow that standard. This year, next year and years down the road. Fight with them. Enjoy this glimpse of all the good things coming our way. Hey, we all want to right in our own way, but picking sides won’t change the facts. Wilson can be great. Flynn can be great. This TEAM is well on it’s way to being great.

“Back to the 4th quarter comeback comment. Fact is Wilson has already done that twice this year. With chances in every game to win at the end. EVERY game. No other rookie has ever done this. None of the greats I mentioned above. Most of them were terrible their rookies seasons.”

Good quarterbacks don’t need to come back at the end of games. Did we win a bunch of heart-stoppers in 2005 or 2007? No, we won comfortably. Having to come back at the end of a game for a victory largely means you were not effective enough for the first 55ish minutes. You cannot compare Wilson to those rookies because they were on terrible teams, proof being that the teams drafted high enough to select those rookie QBs in the first place.

We were 7-9 last season and good quarterback play could have been the difference between that and a 10-6 playoff team. This team is too good to be wasting the season hoping a rookie can learn on the job.

“Wilson can be great”

Based on what? Honestly, I’d love to see why. Because objectively, all I’ve seen so far is a more well-spoken Troy Smith. Great college player, too short for the pros, can’t do anything on offense besides deep bomb or bust. Some games it works, like against the Patriots and their garbage secondary, but a vast, vast majority of times, it does not.

“If Thursday is the best Wilson can fifer it’s not good enough. Sorry, that’s my opinion.”

Chuck, I can respect that. But I will respond to:

“I just want Wilson to get to the point that he is so consistent that the win and the comeback are expected and not a pleasant surprise. Thursdays performance was not that.”

There is not a QB in NFL history who orchestrates game-winning drives every time the opportunity arises, even the elite ones, and by our mutual agreement, Wilson is not elite.

He has done so twice this year (an NFL record) and was a dropped pass away from a third time against the Cards. Even if you don’t want to count the game-winning TD against GB, recall that that was the second last minute drive Wilson conducted that game. The 4th down play on the previous drive was a pass to Rice in the endzone that Tate went up and knocked down. Not only that, but Wilson was leading a potentially game-winning drive in the Rams game only to see his receiver fall down and the ball intercepted.

I am just not sure how much more last-minute heroics you can expect from the guy. Your standards for success seem awfully high, for any NFL QB.

But respectfully, that’s just my opinion.

AND THEN I ADDED:

As a perfect example (just to extend the argument) Tom Brady had a minute and 14 seconds to get into field goal range to beat the Seahawks. One of the best QBs in NFL history couldn’t even get one first down.

But that’s not that uncommon. Those last minute drives are really tough.

elway had more 4th quarter comebacks than anyone and he was great. usually it’s a crappy D that causes that, wouldn’t you agree? in this case it’s a crappy offense that is real inconsistent including wilson. he does seem to shine late in games when it matters most. i think it is that everyone kinda goes “oh shit we gotta get it together” and they all step up and play to the level they can.

like i said i am not adverse to flynn playing, but at this point it’s wilson and he is making rookies mistakes as he will. i do see improvement but thats just me.

“Wilson can be great”

Based on what

based on the opinion of a lot of really good coaches, x coaches and annalists.

now we can argue about that all day but until you win a superbowl acib i will trust their opinion more than yours. no offense.

A. I’m 100% behind Wilson. He’s the man.
B. I see flaws in Wilson, but I’m okay with him being the starter.
C. We need to start Flynn now. Let Wilson learn from the bench.
D. Wilson will never be a starting QB. He is at best a backup.
E. Wilson is the Devil.

With all the verbiage, sometimes it’s hard to know who stands where. My guess is that most posters fall into B and C. Because of all the verbiage in some of the posts, I tend to skim them very fast and don’t know exactly where they stand. It seems like ACIB is D or E. But maybe he’s C. Chuck, I think, is C. Duke, I think, is B but open to C. BobbyK, I think, is C. But I don’t know.

For myself, I fall into the B group. But I’m also with everyone who wants at least 20-24 points a game, and I agree that dropped balls are a part of football for every QB. So I would be okay with it if we played Flynn next week against Detroit. After all, he beat them last year. And I’d be okay with it if the coaches sat RW for the rest of the year and started Flynn.

Cream always rises to the top! 77 your a class act ! You have never been out of line on this blog. You win with class and style!you are one of the rare few I’ve seen on this blog who makes his point with out being an ass!we all could learn a little something from you! It is amazing what people can twist from what you are saying. Pretty straightforward and to the point. I don’t get it?

I suppose I should elaborate. Wilson now has 7 games of real NFL experience with this offense and these receivers to Flynn’s two games of experience within a different offense (more of a spread offense versus the PA-heavy that Seattle employs) with different personnel against a different Detroit team.

That just doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense, no matter what you think about Wilson.

so once again, ACIB it’s a team game. In 2005 that team was the result of several years worth of high draft picks, long term coaching and solid QB play with the best O line in the history of the team. They didn’t often Hasslebeck didn’t have to come back every week and some of the games weren’t close. However there were only 7 blowouts and a couple of huge losses as well. It’s not like that team showed up and went 16-0.

In football, the games are won and lost by every player on the team. You say good teams don’t need to come back as they were ineffective earlier in the game. The QB plays offense, not defense and special teams. Being behind early often is the result of a kickoff returned for a touchdown, the defense giving up a TD or missing tackles that could have made the other team punt. You put entirely too much on the QB position.

Against the 9er’s our D missed a ton of tackles and allowed the 9er’s to gain additional yards and favorable field position. Yes the QB has to make throws and play within the gameplan. The opening drive we had the ball inside the 5 thanks to a great punt and special teams play. Wilson puts the ball right on Real Rob and we get 12 yards and move away from the edge of the endzone. That was a 100% NFL starting QB throw with as much pressure and noise as you can get. And yes, I think Flynn would have made that throw too.

The guys that do this for a living and have won playoff games and superbowls all agree he possesses what it takes to be great. That’s not just my opinion. I’m not worried and don’t really care if you believe it or not. Always going back to we have a great d and this team is built to win now and we should be playing the other guy doesn’t change one fact. Have you had a private conversation with coach Carrol and did he tell you this team is built to win now? Because I watched every press conference and I’ve never heard him say that. He always stresses that this team is improving and when, WHEN they play like they can, they have a better chance to win games. He is 100% going with Wilson. You don’t like it, actually you hate it and can’t do one thing about it except watch this season or don’t. Toning down your comments allows people to actually try and discuss this with you. That is a start.

My opinion means nothing in regards to the team I love. They piss me off, I throw crap and invent new swear words every time I watch them. But I also find enjoyment in the incredible progress I’m seeing. Winning games that would have easily lost in years past. They are young and make lots of mistakes. The team makes lots of mistakes. The QB is part of that and has his share, but frankly I’d rather watch him make a mistake while trying to make a huge play then watch that crap from the last couple of years.

Ewalters – I don’t mean anything by asking the question, other than I don’t even understand it. What exactly did he tweet? I have read it several times and I don’t even know what he is saying. That’s all I mean.

The pass D numbers are through end of season, so they could be skewed for the earlier games.

Throughout all of this, we remain in possession of one of the worst passing offenses in the league.

Now, the D comparisons maybe are a bit off as we are tilted toward run (I’d argue that the DAL game is an outlier, as I recall, we were playing with the lead for the bulk of that game thanks to special teams and had a number of nice grind-it-out-with-Marshawn drives), but teams are, relatively speaking, doing better than average against Seattle’s passing game.

RW’s two best games, yardage-wise have been against the #19 and #28 pass Ds. And in the case of CAR, CAR performed better than their average (that is, the held SEA to less yards passing than they had given up). Certainly some of the improved passing game you see from STL to CAR to NE is due to the quality of D, just as one would expect some drop-off for SF given how good their pass D is.

3rd down efficiency remains abysmal with the exception of CAR and DAL. That’s not all on RW, but some of it is. And, I’d argue that some of the improvement in DAL might have come from the two drives in the game where they fed DAL a steady diet of the run game – so RW wasn’t required to make a play beyond getting the ball to Beast or Turbinator.

SF maybe looks different with the drops, but who knows how things would have played out; bottom line the team needs to be able to over come that kind of stuff if it is going to be elite.

I am not as strident as ACIB and others are, but I do wonder at what point you have to try something else? Do you ride him all season and hope that the stat lines look a lot better in Week 15? Or, even if your D is keeping you in games and you’re playing a bit north of .500 ball do you put MF in and see what he can do.

Maybe I am wrong, but I find it hard to believe that this kind of play in the passing game or on 3rd down is going to take the Hawks deep into the playoffs. I am little less optimistic than others on the back half of the schedule given the quality appears to be a bit better in the back half based on Eric’s post this morning.

In reference to the Ewalters tweet copy & paste, Tavon Austin is a receiver/returner for the Mountaineers. According to the information I found, he caught 101 balls for 1186 yds. in ’11. I suspect this is someone with whom Irvin is acquainted.

77,
It seems you may not be familiar with Twitter.There is a guy telling Bruce that he would like to see Tavon Austin (WV wr) play with Bruce Irvin.He comments and says we need him!That’s what caused me to pray he’s not taking shots at the team.Not speculating.

So if I have clarified that for you, great.If not, maybe someone else can help you out.

Didn’t Sherman go off a couple of weeks ago, something about the defense did their job? We sure don’t want to see rifts between offense and defense, but frankly, I’d understand it if they developed. I thought PC calling out the defense against the niners was a bad move, especially when the offense can’t score more than 13 points.

The defense is the hero of this season so far, hands down, in my opinion.

twillis, and my argument was also that only 2 of the 7 are not a top 12 pass D 4 are top 10 with 3 being top 5. that is a tough stretch for anyone much less a rookie. listen i am not saying that he isn’t struggling he is but he looked more than competent at the end of the pats game. he also started off well thursday. the improvement i see is in his movement, throws and vision. is it perfect no but neither is brady’s or manning’s they are just more consistent.
that is really what i am getting at i see him getting more consistent for larger portions of the game. it’s a work in progress .

twillis- I appreciate your use of statistics. Statistics don’t lie, but they also don’t tell the entire truth. Just out of curiosity, I would like to see some statistics that could be related to O-line play. For example, how many times has Wilson been hit, how many times has he been sacked (that’s an easy one), how many times has he been forced out of the pocket, how many times have his throws been rushed. But even if we had statistics related to all of those categories, we still would not know the entire story. A lot of those numbers would be influenced by Wilson’s decision making and whether or not he made correct or incorrect decisions based on the circumstances of a particular play. And even if we did know Wilson’s decision-making process, we would still not have the entire story. We would then have to know if his receivers ran their routes correctly and if they managed to get open.

Hawksince77- Yes I am in Georgia. Maybe not for long because I need to get back to Seattle to take care of my mothers estate after she passed away last week.
I really enjoy, (for the most part) most the bloggers here, however this stuff like I am checking out for awhile by some makes them look weak, imo. Everybody gets their opinion challenged here from time to time, but to act like a spoiled baby about it is a sign to me that they can’t accept anything but their own opinion. Sad!

“Against the 9er’s our D missed a ton of tackles and allowed the 9er’s to gain additional yards and favorable field position. Yes the QB has to make throws and play within the gameplan. The opening drive we had the ball inside the 5 thanks to a great punt and special teams play. Wilson puts the ball right on Real Rob and we get 12 yards and move away from the edge of the endzone. That was a 100% NFL starting QB throw with as much pressure and noise as you can get. And yes, I think Flynn would have made that throw.”

No offence, but please explain to me how a play action pass,with Mike Rob running wide open out the flat is a starting QB throw?

Forget about the first half – what about that 4th and 17 throw to Obo?

Now, I think the Seahawks had virtually zero chance of scoring a late TD against the niners, but it would have been nice to find out what would have happened if Obo can get those extra 6 inches and the offensive line can avoid the penalty.

I mean, they were marching down the field late in the Rams game and if McCoy doesn’t fall down they have a better than even chance to win that game.

Against the niners, unlikely, but it would have been nice to see what they could have done.

I wouldn’t dispute the 4th and 17 throw being clutch; it was certainly a well-placed ball in a pressure situation. However, in that case, how much of a role did the Niners defense play. I don’t remember how many they rushed, but I assume they were in a prevent D. It seemed like Wilson had decent time to throw.

I don’t know about your nephew, he must be very talented, but I agree: that play was routine for any starting NFL QB.

However, you make me think to point out something we take for granted: ever since the rash of delay penalties, Wilson has handled the routine plays fault-free: hands the ball off without issue, makes the short passes near perfectly, handles the snap without a problem, all the things we expect from a professional QB, but that’s not nothing.

Hawksince77: I wrote a long post answering your question, but for some reason it doesn’t show, and I don’t have the energy to write it again. Suffice it to say that I’m simply interested in how this large and interesting group of fans sorts out on the question of Wilson/Flynn at this point of the season. Ideally, I’d like to see them grouped by name (handle) because I’ve come to have associations with the names, not exactly like friends, but as voices with a certain character. Your reasons for not starting Flynn v. Detroit are sensible and probably trump my laxness in being okay with it if it happened. I’d be happiest if RW went in and lit the place up.

Same thing just happened to me. Next time I save it before hitting post.

Anyway, I understand that you want to relate a position vis-a-vis the QB situation in Seattle to various posters, but I didn’t see how an anonymous poll was going to accomplish that.

Anyway, for your information, I have been an admirer of Wilson since before the draft, and predicted in detailed manner that he would be the starting Seattle QB at the beginning of the season. As a result of the ensuing debate, I was banned from Field Gulls, because I never changed my mind, and argued reasonably against all of the popular opinion that it was obviously Flynn. Go figure.

Speaking of Flynn, while I was convinced Wilson would be the starting QB, it wouldn’t have surprised me had PC gone with Flynn (and I said so). Had that happened, you’d hear me now arguing with those calling to start Wilson to give the guy a chance to develop (being little more than a rookie himself).

More than my own judgment in such things, I trust PC’s, and find it ludicrous that anyone here thinks they know better than him who is best for the team. No matter what we see, or what we think we know, we don’t have access to a tenth of the information he has regarding this issue, nor do we have a hundreth of the experience be brings to the job. For a fan to pit his judgment against PC’s is just…can’t think of the right, non-insulting word.

Back to Flynn. I think he has demonstrated two of the three most important aspects of succeeding as an NFL QB: decision making and accuracy. We don’t know how consistent he would be (he hasn’t played many games), and he doesn’t have the big-play arm and mobility of Wilson.

The enter question, however, is utterly moot: barring injury, or some truly horrifying events, Flynn will never start for the Seahawks. Too much has already been invested in Wilson (7 regular season games) and he has demonstrated that his ability translates to the NFL, and he has shown growth, along with why PC made the decision in the first place.

So here it is (as far as your poll goes): Wilson is the starting QB, period. Doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks or wants. The deals done, the cake baked, the ship has done left the harbor.

Thanks for your response, Hawksince77. I’ve agreed with most if not all of what I’ve read in your posts. I’m a pretty big fan of Wilson’s, but I don’t watch the game more than once; so I don’t have the benefit of knowing how many open guys he might have missed etc.

Someone should write a PhD. dissertation on this blog. It’s only half about the Seahawks. The other half is about the interactions of the posters. People say things to each other they would never say face to face, and I think people give and take offense more easily because it’s hard to know the tone of voice. It’s also hard for men (assuming the large proportion of posters are male) to let what they perceive as an insult go unanswered. Thus the concatenation of explosions, some of them no doubt quite innocently set off. I’m speaking generally here, not about any person or thread in particular. Here’s to all Seahawks and Seahawks fans having a good rest tomorrow.

hawkfaninok – Agree that the stats aren’t the whole picture, but that’s about all we have to go on. I agree that there’s a bunch of interesting stuff to look at, but not enough time (and even then you still won’t have the whole story). Unless there’s some players/coaches reading and commenting here, nobody can say for sure how RW is grading out or where the staff is at on his play. For all we know, the staff could think he’s on schedule or they could be running out of patience but committed to give him N games. I think there’s very little that we can read into the staff’s actions at this point regarding where they are with the QBs.

That being said, I think it’s pretty clear that the Hawks passing O is weak, to say the least. Subjectively, it seems like the O-line is playing better than they were at the start of last season, but maybe if somebody pulls the stats RW has been sacked/hurried more than Tjack was. SF game is showing 3 QB hits with 2 sacks; that doesn’t seem like an outrageous amount of pressure. Aside from AZ, seems like opposing D’s haven’t gone blitz-happy on RW. Given how bad the Hawks are on 3rd, were I a DC, I’m not sure I’d be dialing up the pressure either on the off-chance that the Hawks burn me.

As far as how I thought he played @SF, I thought the 1st quarter he looked OK, second quarter saw the wheels start to come off. Second half, the less said, the better. In the first quarter, it would have been nice to come away with 10 or 14 out of those drives rather than 6. As I mentioned earlier, his ball placement is hit and miss to me. If I’m remembering right, early in the SF game he delivered the ball behind Baldwin on an out (Baldwin bailed him out and made the catch, but given where the DB was, the ball was put in a dangerous spot). He still seems to throw high a lot — I also remember Rice having to jump for a few balls. Not sure what to make of this if it’s something that will go away as he settles or, heck, if the staff is telling him to make the throws like that.

Lacking any insight at all into what was going on in the play calls and so on, the SF game looks to me a lot like all of RW’s regular season games. Aside from a few good drives, offense struggles to put together drives for a big part of the game and, when they do have opportunities, TDs are difficult to come by. 3rd down efficiency is awful. Through all of that, the D keeps it close. Certainly, the whole offense has to take some responsibility (well, maybe not the run game). But the biggest weakness is in the passing game and I put that mostly at the feet of the QB given the pass pro to me (an admitted non-expert) looks serviceable. He does seem to be a little less likely to bail out of the pocket now than earlier, but that just an impression.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall at VMAC…

77 – It may be that MF never starts another game for Seattle, but maybe not. When it comes down to fixing the QB problem, I would have no problem throwing away a multiple regular season game investment if it means I get the right guy in the end and would hope the Hawks would feel the same way.

I think the appeal to authority is a bit over-the-top as is the veiled “you’re an for second guessing PC”. This is a blog frequented by fans, second guessing and hand wringing is par for the course. Sure, PC has forgotten more about football than most of us will ever know, but he is human and can make mistakes. I am happy to admit that my impressions may be completely wrong, but they are my impressions and are worth what you paid for them. If we’re going to trust PC’s judgement, then certainly we should trust Bevel’s judgement as well when it comes to play calling, right? Or Cable’s judgement when it comes to drafting O-line? As far as I know, none of the posters here have called plays for an NFL team or coached an NFL O-line yet I do recall reading quite a bit of complaining about the play calling holding RW back or the Carp/Moffitt picks being wasted. Not to mention the griping about how the QB situation was handled the first few years of PCs tenure.

“Back to Flynn. I think he has demonstrated two of the three most important aspects of succeeding as an NFL QB: decision making and accuracy. We don’t know how consistent he would be (he hasn’t played many games), and he doesn’t have the big-play arm and mobility of Wilson.”

That’s funny because Flynn showed a better deep ball in his 2 starts than Wilson did the entire season until the Patriots game. Flynn may not have Wilson’s mobility but he is still well above average in the mobility department for an NFL QB. And that is ignoring the fact that who gives a damn about mobility, if mobility was important for a QB, then Troy Smith, Seneca Wallace, Terrelle Pryor, Tim Tebow, and countless of other athlete-types would be starting QBs. Would you rather have Wilson over Tom Brady because he is more mobile? Screw that, pocket passers are better and have always been better without exception as long as football has been around.

“The enter question, however, is utterly moot: barring injury, or some truly horrifying events, Flynn will never start for the Seahawks. Too much has already been invested in Wilson (7 regular season games) and he has demonstrated that his ability translates to the NFL, and he has shown growth, along with why PC made the decision in the first place.”

He has demonstrated nothing of the sort. He lives and dies with the deep pass and doesn’t have the height, vision, and accuracy to lead a consistent passing game. Objectively, nothing about Russell Wilson’s game other than arm strength appears to translate at the NFL level. Even his athleticism is overrated, he isn’t very fast at all! He hasn’t shown growth either, he’s laid remarkably similar stinkers week after week, with the exception being the Patriots game, which I guarantee is an outlier. No other defense is going have DBs terrible enough to allow a couple of deep bombs in obvious passing situations.

People that are tired of ACID, just try to ignore him from now on, and hopefully he will go away. It’s hard for me to bite my tongue, but I’m going to do my best. You might as well argue with a chimp. Nothing you say nor any objective fact will ever sway him, which is his prerogative. He can’t learn anything from anyone else. He has the answers. He’s analogous to Athlete’s Foot, the more you pick at it the worse it gets.

P.S. ACID is either being disingenuous or simply cannot read when he posts statistics for Flynn. Flynn has 9 TDs and 5 INTs in the NFL, Not 9 and 1. And if Hasselbeck never let dropped passes or other things get in his way, then why was his QB rating his last 3 years here approx. 73, 6.5 points below RW’s? It could be, just maybe, that it’s a TEAM game. RW is a rookie and Hasselbeck was a 10 year vet. My last, hopefully, response to your nonsense. These are clear reasons, amongst many others, that 95+ % of the people here don’t respect your opinion.

He won’t go away, unfortunately he’s got some sympathisers who all got a common goal.
Of all the time I’ve seen or been on this blog I have never seen so much hate and trash thrown at one player who’s overall play has yet to deserve it. Even to the point of wishing an injury occur.
Now I have said some silly things before, but this on going hate parade makes me wonder if some bloggers here really have a life outside this blog, and perhaps it is best that they go away for awhile and find a life outside this blog.

On a serious note.Where do you get that interception stats in regards to Matt Flynn? If I recall correctly he has 9tds and 2 INTS.Against New England he threw one pick (though there was another dropped), then, against Detroit bhe threw 6tds and one pick.

I jusf hope you don’t hate ACIB so much that, you blame him of posting incorrect stats, but yours are not spot on either.

In regards to Hass.He indeed was a 10yr
vet, but he(at that time always had nagging injuries) took a beating with a terrible o-line and lost his velocity and pinpoint accuracy due to being about 13yrs older than Wilson.

Chuck, you seriously disappoint me, man. You bring some good content to the blog, but if you’re going to act like a little baby then good riddance. You’re acting like a 2 year old that wants to take his ball and go home.

I also think it was VERY unfair of you to try and lump me into a group that called you a troll, although I don’t think Georgia or 77 did either. hawkfininoklahoma said he did but apologized. So what are you whining about? I have said NUMEROUS times that I NEVER called you a troll or not a fan. The only one I have called a troll is ACID. I stand by it. You must be able to read, so I’m confused with why you keep promoting this fantasy? It’s almost as bad as what LAMEoN did to me. Saying that I insulted him first when he said that most of the posters here were morons before I said a word to him. He also said I made a crack about him flipping burgers and ACID mowing lawns. I did neither. Those were other posters. So many here people hate both of them that he can’t keep them straight.

It seems like you’ve gone off the rails man. Maybe extra stress in your real life? I don’t know. I know that you would never win a SINGLE case as a lawyer if you acted in court the way you’re been acting here! Saying Hawk77 was bullying you? He just disputed your posts. Very well and back up with objective data I might add. If you can’t handle that, then you should probably take your ball and go home. To play amateur psychologist, it seems like you get all huffy when you feel like you can’t logically defend your arguments. I know you’ve gotten that way with me. Example, when we were going back and forth about the lockout. You stopped arguing facts and then just stopped replying. That’s fine if you want to drop a subject, but it’s not bullying when someone simply challenges your opinions on here. That’s part of what this is about. You can play the victim if you want, but it’s all in your head. Hawk77 and pdway put it very well too.

P.S. Just because PC said that 9-23 isn’t going to get it done in the NFL doesn’t mean he was putting all or even most of the blame for that on RW. He SPECIFICALLY mentioned how crucial the drops were. You took his words out of context to try and defend your point. I’m not saying that RW really played well, but I definitely wouldn’t put him as the major reason we lost the game. This offense is far from elite with or without RW right now. Lynch and maybe Rice are the only real star players on offense right now. I say maybe for Rice because he has been healthy, but it seems hard to evaluate him right now. I’d have to have a lot more film and knowledge to determine why he isn’t producing more. He seems to be making plays when the ball is thrown to him.

When you throw 2tds and 7ints on the road, I’m sorry, but you have to put most of the blame on the QB.I understand he’s a rookie, but if Pete says he earned the job, he can not play the way he has on the road and expect a free pass.10-27 I believe for 130yrs against the Packers at home is also not acceptable.The Packers also have a poor secondary.

Ewalters, you know they have these things called search engines, right? Type Flynn’s name into one and you can easily get his stats. The one I quoted was from ESPN. You can even look at his numbers game by game for his career. He threw a pick in 2009, had 3 TDs and 2 picks in 2010, and 6 TDs and 2 picks in 2011. That’s 9 TDs and 5 INTs. Just simple math. Nice try though. I know you have to stick together. ACID said in the NFL. Not just his starts or anything else. He played some significant time besides his 2 starts. His big numbers came with one of the best offenses in the NFL versus 2 of the worst passing defenses in the NFL. Just the reality. I’m not a Flynn hater and thought he would be the starter going into the year until late in TC. We don’t know how he would’ve played had he started the first 7 games. We will NEVER know. It’s statistically VERY unlikely that he would’ve kept putting up numbers like he did in his 2 starts for GB. I just want the best QB for the long term. The one that gives us the best chance to win super bowls. PC obviously thinks that’s RW, and I support him in that until I see ample evidence to the contrary. I haven’t seen anything close to it yet.

Maybe I misread your stats.But I was talking about the two starts that actually mattered I’m not talking about coming in due to injury.I am simply talking about the times he went into practice knowing he was going to start and the performances he’s turned in.That’s the only comparison I can see.

It was 10-21, 130 yds, 2 TDs and 0 INTs for a 99.3 QB rating. If you’re going to quote statistics, get them right at least. And GB doesn’t have a bad secondary. They are 18th in passing yards a game and 8th in completion % against. They have Woodson. They’re not great but hardly poor either.

Though the passer rating went up due to a bogas call Those numbers are still not impressive to me.I remember people saying he was the 3rd best QB in the draft.If so, his performance isn’t showing he’s any different from Brandon Weeden or Tannahill.Though he has more wins, I’m talking about overall play.Stats don’t tell the whole story…

Dude, read the posts before responding next time. ACID said he had 9 TDs and 1 INT in the NFL. He’s wrong even if he was just talking about the starts, which he wasn’t. In the NFL, he has 9 TDs and 5 INTs. Fact.

And only starts actually matter. Yeah, I guess those other regular season games he played in were just for fun, eh? If you think the 9 TDs and 2 INTs in his 2 starts with GB versus poor secondaries automatically translate over to the Seahawks, then you really don’t know much about football. RW had a 133.7 rating versus NE. That should translate to every other week, right?

Going back to the poor past defenses Flynn has played, I think people fail to realize that every team we play doesn’t have the hawks secondary.Hawks and niners are the only two past D’s that are top notch at this point.Imo

Saying that,I would think practicing against this secondary in practice, he would have better play.But no, it’s not happening.

And the Hasselbeck comparison wasn’t to argue who’s better. If you had read the post, you’d have understood that. ACID said that Hasselbeck never let drops and other things get in his way. His stats the last 3 years here suggest otherwise. Not surprisingly, when the talent level around him went down, his numbers did as well. That goes for anyone. The POINT was that this is a TEAM game and, it’s asinine to just pin the QB’s numbers on him without any real analysis.

You can think Flynn would be tearing it up all you want. But it’s just your opinion and speculative. You have nothing factual to back it up. He hasn’t played a regular season game for the Hawks. PC/JS and staff must think that the kid is better for them long term, if not right now. I’ll take their knowledge over yours or my 2 cents everyday of the week.

Georgia, I know I didn’t, and I don’t think you or Hawk77 insulted or called Chuck a troll. The only people I have insulted, intentionally at least, in a while are the 2 that shall remain nameless. What’s up with Chuck?

Of course they think the kid is better.It’s all because of the work ethic, smarts and intangibles in Wilson.And though it isn’t showing on the field,Pete sees everything he wants in a QB and just went with his gut/heart.

I never said that Flynn wouldn’t have a very legitimate shot. I think he will probably be a pretty good QB. I think he would go through growing pains as well. Maybe not as much as Wilson, but I and the coaching staff must believe he has a higher ceiling as well. I know PC and staff know A LOT more about it than you or me. I’m willing to give RW until next year. I’m not a Flynn hater. I don’t necessarily hate or love either one of them. I just try to be fair and logical. You don’t have to argue one extreme or another.

I think Flynn got equal reps for much of the off-season, as far as it was reported. None of us know exactly what went into PC’s decision. I don’t really care anymore. I’m sick of this. Flynn couldn’t play the 3rd preseason game. That was PC’s fault? RW has more than the intangibles. His physical skills are all far superior to Flynn’s besides height. Doesn’t automatically mean he will be the better QB. PC chose. Just live with it or be unhappy. I’m done yammering about it though.

bbnate420-I have never called Chuck a troll, however I have said alot worse about you, and you about me in the past. Lol.

Chuck is just being a stubburn old fool right now, and in time will come back. He dished out alot at me before Wilson was named the starter, ( and I took it ), and then he just went ballistic and has never been the same since Wilson was named the starter.
Hopefully we will get some more wins and everyone can make up. Lol.

BTW- I’m kind of pulling for our NFC west teams, ( Cardinals, Rams ) to win today, because I think the Vikings and Packers will be a bigger threat to us with regards to the playoff picture.

Ewalters7354- bbnate420 really did think that Flynn was going to be our starter, but he didn’t go all out ballistic like some others did because I think he saw the upside of Wilson and saw that Flynn didn’t really knock it out of the park.

Remember too that sometimes good qbs can be stuck in bad systems,( Plunkett- New England, Young- Tampa Bay ), Hopefully that won’t be the case here in Seattle because then it wouldn’t matter if Flynn or Wilson is our starting qb.

When Sando used to run this place, he would discourage “message board” behavior because that is nothing but a free for all. A blog, in principle, is topical – i.e., Eric posts a topic and people respond to the topic. This place has become what Sando never wanted it to be – a place where people bicker at each other. It is unfortunate. I for one would like to see Eric rein it in.

“This place has become what Sando never wanted it to be – a place where people bicker at each other.”

I couldn’t agree more. That’s not intended to be an inditement of Eric, at all. He’s done some awesome things here and continues to do so.

Regarding the playoffs, Seattle needs NFW West loses, considering they have no division wins yet. If Seattle does go to the playoffs, it’s almost a certainty at this point that they’ll have to win the division. Moreover, they’ve already beaten GB so they have the tie breaker there, should it come to that.

Has anybody seen Detroit play this year? Strengths Weaknesses? It’s good to see the Hawks will get a little extra time off. This will be a great day to get reaquainted with the wife. If my calculations are correct, I should get enough honey-doo points to last me through the season.

True Dukeshire. I think the Hawks got a bit of a bad turn by having to play SF on the Short week. A win would have changed that of course. But 0-3 in div. is as tough as it comes when your trying to make the playoffs. Especially when considering the strength of NFW defenses.

acib. you are rewriting history again. flynn;s accuracy and arm strengtgh in the detroit game was a joke. receivers have to almost stop on go routes, jenning’s had to comeback on one that just fluttered and died. in both games it was elite receivers that made him look good which we don’t have.

twillis, hardly true i can watch the games and see the whole story when combined with the stats. watching the game i can see what caused some of wilson’s struggles i can see where he got happy feet and i can see if it was on wilson or receivers for a pass off the mark. remember a lot of these routes are timing routes if the receivers are running lazy routes in practice and tighten them up in the game timing will be off. my problem with the wilson haters is they don’t want to take into account 6 clean drops on well thrown balls when that is a revealing stat. the lovers don’t want to truly acknowledge that his play while improving is still pretty bad at time for extended times.

Detroit lights it up through the air despite Stafford having an off year (Wilson actually has a higher passer rating at this point…), but their running game is spotty at best, with all their injuries back there. On defense they are middle of the road in nearly every way. They do have Suh however, and he needs to be accounted for on every play or he can ruin an offensive gameplan. Matchup-wise they’re a team that sets up well for Seattle. In any case, that’s the dime tour…

Agreed Duke.Hopefully thisbteam doesn’t lose more than 2-gamssgames the second half to keep up with Friso.I don’t think AZ is ready just yet.Much likethe hawks.I’ll be happy with a winning recored, but a record thats .500 in the division(if they win the rest)stinks.

Thanks Dukeshire. I was just reading an article on zone blocking. The zbs can be an extremely effective method for an experienced line. It requires in-play decision making after the initial leverage shifts as to what second level defender (linebacker)is your next assignment. And that depends on which hole your running back decides to hit. The zbs allows olines to exploit quickness but also requires everyone from the running back to the gaurd or end to be mentally on the same page. This said, Our young oline who have yet to play in their final makeup (moffit out) for any length of time, will continue to struggle. This is based on youth and experience imo. It will at least take longer to gel with this scheme as opposed to the traditional pull and fill block package. This the part of the equation that does not get enough attention when discussing how effective the offense is.

twillis wrote: ‘I think the appeal to authority is a bit over-the-top as is the veiled “you’re an for second guessing PC”.’

You’re right. The ‘appeal to authority’ argument is simply a way to limit the discussion, and that wasn’t my intention.

In an attempt to clarify, this is where my head was at when I wrote those words. Prior to naming Wilson the starter, as all the debate raged about who would/should be the starter (Flynn/Wilson/Jackson) my ultimate criteria for determining who would be the best QB for the team this year would be decided when PC made his decision. To me, that would be decisive.

Somebody asked me (a person who knew my attitude pretty well) if Jackson won the job, would I agree with the decsion. Despite my strong feelings about TJack’s suitability to lead the Seahawks, my sincere answer was ‘yes’. In fact, if TJack could beat both Flynn and Wilson, I would be incredibly impressed with him, because that would have been quite the achievement.

Fast forward to today. Had Flynn been chosen (and this was closer to the context of my post above) I would accept PC’s judgment concerning the starting QB (in this hypothetical case, Matt Flynn) and would argue against those questioning that judgment and calling for Wilson to start (something that would have been inevitable, no matter how well or poorly Flynn played).

So my intention was less to appeal to authority for other fans, and more about explaining the source of my conviction concerning the issue.

I’m off to the hot springs this morning but i want to say that not agreeing with everybody does not make you a troll. Repeatingly trying to imflame or implode this blog does. We’re all Hawks fans,(hopefully) and the frustration of losing is hard but we are where we are and could be worse, could be better too. We have an unusual amount of rookies or 2nd year players that still haven’t seen all the misdirections and tricks.
Tate has incredible potential but after 3 years i want to see more.
No one chased Chuck away he just got frustrated with all the bickering and left for a while. If we were in the AFC we’d be kicking ass! Remember just a few years ago when it was the other way around?
I’m glad for the 10 day break, maybe we refocus moving forward and heal up. I’m looking forward to Moffitt and Carpenter as guards but they need to practice together, both are coming back from serious injuries and need practice and conditioning. I’ve been critical at times with ACID and Rad, but if they contribute with logic then i’m cool, same goes for anyone.
We all need time after a disappointing loss but a win next week will give us a positive attitude that is much needed. Erics doing a great job running this blog, but i feel for him sometimes. Peace out.

Hellow fellow bloggers,
Last time I looked at the standings the Seahawks not only had a winning record but they also are just one game out of the division lead and just half a game out of the wild card race with nine games remaining.
They also have all of their NFC west division foes at home. Also they have the tie breaker with the Packers and Cowboys, and they can win the tie breaker with the Lions, Bears, and Vikings coming up.
They have their own dystany in their control still, very much so, imo.

Don’t look like the’re out of the wild card race to me, much less the division race.
Please explain the almost certainty that they are out of the wild card race to me. Did I miss something?

Imo, I think the Packers and Vikings are a bigger threat to us with regards to the playoffs then the Cardinals or Rams, however I won’t be disappointed to see any of these teams lose, or lose often.

I’d like to giacomini and suh get together for a chat post play. I’ve heard that suh has an attitude/mental problem. But “jock” is the chippiest/meanest olinemen I can recall the hawks ever having. Except for the penalties that come from it, it’s kinda nice to see.

duke questions for you not looking to pick a fight just want your imput.

if flynn had started that game thursday and receivers had same drops only difference is flynn, do you think we win ? or do you believe like i do that this was a team loss with more than wilson to blame?

confucious – There is something to that. And we saw a lot of what you’re pointing to last year, especially early. This year however, the line has not been a significant issue regarding how effective this offense is (or isn’t). As evidence, they’ve been able to run effectively all season, including on SFs #1 defense. The line can play better of course (most immediately, getting Moffitt back to RG), but all in all, I’ve been impressed with how they’ve played.

hawkfaninoklahoma – Honestly, I don’t know. I do believe he should have started the season but that doesn’t necessarily mean that pulling Wilson now for Flynn is a better answer. Simply put, like everyone else, it’s just conjecture. I will say this however regarding the SF game: I do think Flynn would have had more success than Wilson. One reason I think this, is that Flynn would likely have recognized the blitzes and coverages and would have been able to check into protections and plays that would have had a chance to be more effective. It’s going to take time for Wilson to get to the point where he’s able to do this. I also believe that with SFs secondary, the intermediate passing game is more effective than deeper routes. This plays to Flynn’s strength far more than Wilson. Does this mean that Seattle automatically wins that game with Flynn under center? Of course not, but as I said earlier in the week, before the game, this was going to be a tough matchup for Wilson. The drops hurt (there are three that stand out: Turbin, Moore, and Tate), but I do think Wilson’s overall play, and this includes presnap recognition, hurt them more than any other single aspect of their play. He’s a smart kid and will learn from this game. To me, it was a classic rookie game for a QB going against one of the leagues best defenses.

confucious- Agree! The biggest concern for me about this team, ( and I said this before), is will they perform well despite their collective young age? Will they be mature enough to handle winning and/or losing? Will the penalties, mistakes, and missed assignments decrease enough so that their talent will rise to the top of the NFL and into the playoffs this year?
I don’t know, but I sure hope it does.

Detroit will be like a watered down NEngland offense, and a watered down SF defense. I think we learned to to beat Detroit from those last two games.

The extra rest and extra time to game plan will be enough to handle them.

Just when I was getting to like tater again he has that game, and I wonder if Braylon would serve us better, ? Not as flashy, but a bigger target, and a guy with the ability to catch the ball with his hands…

I think bevel became enamored with the long ball and forgot about the middle, TE’s, etc after Baldwin hurt his ankle.

More beast/kraaken, less drops, move chains,
Then take a deep shot every now and then.

I know the “d” only gave up 13 points, but time of possession in the second half really hurts offensive stats as much as everything else too. Third and long defense will see a lot of work this week, along with LB assignments.

I’m pretty sure Detroit doesn’t have half the Oline that SF does, so I doubt they try the trap running plays on us as much. Looking back, the SF game was a great lesson for the young defense, early in the year. I think it will pay dividends for the remainder of the year, same with the youngsters on offense. Nothing sinks in like a serious spanking, like we got in the second half. Believe it or not, that might prove to be the best thing that could have happened to us this year

I personally am done with all the bickering over whether a back-up player should be the starter. It’s nothing more than a moot point, because he isn’t. I think Braylon Edward should be the starter over Tate. He has mountains of superior stats, real game experience, and height too lol, to me, that’s a more valid argument than the other one..

hawkfaninoklahoma – I do think he played okay in the first, overall. On three consecutive possessions, he laid it right on Turbin, put it in a perfect spot for Moore, and a wonderful throw to Edwards that was knocked out of his hands bringing it down by the defender’s helmet, not Edwards fault. All three of those were near perfect throws. in addition, I liked how he’s beginning to hang in the pocket longer (although he now needs to learn when to throw it away and not take some of those sacks, but one thing at a time). So I do like some of the progress I’m seeing from him.

SF and Detroit run very different defensive schemes. And on offense, you are right, likely won’t see too many inside traps, power O, lead, etc… Detroit’s rushing is based more on stretch concepts. In any case…

He’s a little nugget from Rich Eisen at NFL Network: only 5 teams in NFL history have started the season 0-3 in their division and still won their respective division. History not looking fondly on Seattle.

49ers are a darn good team, so I never thought we had a real good chance at the division title anyway. It is all about the wild card. We need to beat Minnesota and Chicago, one of whom would likely be in the running for a wildcard also. AZ is looking OK but I don’t think they will sustain their early season success.

Hello all, I just want to say that I’ve been following this blog since early training camp, but just didn’t feel the need to post any kind of commentary until now. For the most part, I find most of the comments here of decent quality and fairly entertaining. The only theme I wanted to comment specifically to was the whole blame game debate.

This is a team game, period. That being said, QB is the most important position in all of sports for success. As someone who played into college, I can tell you that when I first learned of the decision to start the rookie QB I wasn’t thrilled; being an old-school guy like myself. But he’s a rookie guys, and like any other young person, there will be brilliance combined with absolute heart-crushing frustration when it comes to his play. Our offensive team is designed to run the ball hard (and brilliantly I might add), and have the QB serve the game manager role. Bevel as our OC has only realized success with this offense once that I can remember; when he had a Hall of Fame QB running it in Favre and Peterson as his running back. That was good enough for the NFC title game.

So please try and temper that “success” with our current team now. Our O-line is young, our QB is young or potentially young in experience (Flynn) with average at best receivers and a Pro-Bowl TE that is such a good blocker he doesn’t catch enough passes.

Team game fellas, not ever half way through the season yet. Lots of time to grow still, and every bad game that old RW has still serves as excellent for his experience pool. As a Hawk fan for 22 years, I’m still not discouraged or “doom and gloom” ‘ing the rest of the season.
Keep your heads up, and look forward to next week!

I’m late with this, but I have a few thoughts on the offensive line play. I haven’t gone back and watched all the games again, so these are just my thoughts based on an overall, collective impression of the offensive line’s play. I think the word “unspectacular,” that was used in a previous post, might be fairly apt. I have an overall impression the line has been decent as far as run-blocking is concerned; however, I realize this impression is possibly somewhat skewed due to Marshawn Lynch’s ability to grind out yards after contact. I believe Lynch has gained something like 250 yards after contact. As far as pass-blocking is concerned, I think the line play has been inconsistent; although, I do think there are times Wilson has made them look worse because of his antics in the pocket. Finally, as we all know, penalties have been an issue for the O line, and in my opinion, a possible game-changing issue. I think there have been instances in games where the O line play has negatively impacted the course of the game has much as the play of any one player.

That stated, penalties have improved, so they are trending in the right direction there. The return of Moffitt and the ten-day rest should be beneficial.

It is a team game like you say. We are young across the entire team, and will experience the growing pains throughout the team this year. But that’s how the kids grow, and in a few years, we will have the experience that SF now has. But I think we will be better then, than they are now, especially if Pete and JS keep drafing as they do.

A beast RT and a beast WR this years draft, and next year we are really loaded.

I can’t imagine this franchise investing another high draft pick into the o line, for the foreseeable future. Moreover, I’m not convinced that a RT is a position of difference between where there is now and where they are trying to get.

I’m 42, so “being old” is purely relative of course. My context is “since I last wore a helmet”, not chronological, sorry if I offended Slug.

Ewalt, I would say that we’re near contending, but I guess we’d have to be careful with our language and the word contend. I feel we’re good enough to make the playoffs, but go no further with this year’s team. It all comes back to the offense imo, young O line, with dubious choices at QB. Even though Flynn was the big signing, I thought he’d be an upgrade over T-Jack, which leaves a lot to be desired quite frankly lol.

But since we went with the kid out of the gate, rough times to start the year are sure to happen. I understand what coach is trying to do here, I really do. If we can “weather” the first 2/3 season with our rook QB and still be postured to make a run, then we win as a team this year and the next several. I just don’t think that anyone on the roster is a much bigger upgrade at all, with our current O-line play and suspect receiving core. So that leaves us as fans with a unpleasant pill to swallow sometimes: inconsistent rookie QB play coupled with a young O-line.

The fact that we’ve won four games out of seven actually is surprising to me, and gives me a glimmer/sliver/nanometer of hope that we might have something cooking in the second half.

I personally think he is a major weakness with missed assignments, penalties, and gets blown up a lot in pass protection. I would be thrilled with a top 3 picks for that position.
Obviously draft talk will intensify in a few months when we get a better idea of where we will be picking, and who will be available in our slot. But as of this second, the RT would be the second pick for me, after the WR

sluggo42 – Reasonably. The personal fouls are ridiculous, yes. Beyond that however, he’s been assignment correct, I would disagree with you there. I’ll leave it at this, if Seattle wants to upgrade the position, I’m all for it, but I’m not in favor of them investing anything before a day 3 pick there (as it stands here, in October).

As a small aside, Steve Young made a pretty decent point on PTI last week regarding the new “pulse” of the NFL. He made an analogy to the NBA, where teams just basically survive the year and get into the tournament. Once there, they “go to town” as it were and make their playoff runs. The New York Giants are a team that comes to mind in this regard as a successful implementer of this approach, whereas the Packers and their 15-1 record got bounced early…

I would submit this: Having a young offense learn as they go and having a chance to win EVERY SINGLE GAME this year at the end of the game is very valuable experience. When (not if) those cosmic tumblers start to click, all those last second losses turn into wins. If we can do this by the end of the season, make the playoffs and have all that experience, we’ll be in good shape.

I know the journey is frustrating sometimes, but try to see the destination and what we’re learning along the way. It will help keep the ulcers down!

Ewalters7354 – I do think there’s something to that. At this point in his career, he’s able to make decisions quickly and get it out faster. When teams blitz him, he’s able to check to hot reads with confidence. His presnap reads are not surprisingly, going to be better, allowing him to recognize what defenses are trying to do and checking into a better play, or check into a better protection (although the center needs to accept responsibility for this too). That’s huge. And there’s no denying that he has a significantly more talented group of receivers to work with. I think a lot of people devalue or perhaps just don’t realize how important a QB is as far as helping the o line. Most of it comes with experience. The other part of it is executing.

Just watching RedZone, with all these games going on, I can’t help to think that our offensive play calling lacks imagination. I’m not talking razzle dazzle, in the passing game, but some more creative plays that allow receivers to have space and use their skills after the catch. Vikings and Saints, specifically, were back to back and I was like, man, great design getting them in space.

Really, people are now just realizing how good a QB Eli is? Lol. Remember though he didn’t start out that way. He needed the reps just like Wilson does, and that’s how rookies get better in this day and age.

Dukeshire- I’m a huge Eli fan, I think he is the best clutch qb in the NFL, and all the things you said about him are true except for the this point in his career part. No reason to get pissy because I believe he has been doing what you say about him for sometime now.

I will give you the bennefit of the doubt, you probably misstated that part.
Good grief. Lol.

GeorgiaHawk – I didn’t misstate that. “At this point of his career” means as a veteran who has seen nearly everything. That doesn’t imply it’s new to him. It’s a very clear comment that his experience allows him to do things a rookie isn’t. Nothing more.

So the Vikes win and Ponder finishes 8/17 for 58 yards !! yes 58 yards !!
Guess it doesnt matter how you win, you win as a team.

True, but what happens when the team isn’t able to overcome the deficits of an individual position? I.E:

Joe Flacco 21/43 147 YDS, 1 TD 2 INT. That’s a very common stat line for the Seahawks rookie starting Quarterback. These are not common stat lines for a then 5-1 Ravens team. After Flacco takes a page out of the Russell Wilson handbook to Quarterbacking in the NFL, the Ravens, and Flacco’s awful day, got drubbed 43-13, by an elite team, on the road. If Wilson could put up good numbers versus a contender, I’d be pretty stoked.

Hell, this team can’t even beat the Rams with RW at the helm, on the road.

ACIB you peaked too early.
Sanchez is having an awful game and to think we were close to drafting him.
This guy panics and has no poise and hes been in the league a few years now, coming up to draft deadline day we could be getting a few calls about Flynn,

wow did you guys see that outing today by flacco? he did such a great job. it’s unfortunate that the team didn’t do enough for him to win, though.”

Haha RADEoN spot on, this is pretty much the crux of the issue when it comes to defense of RW’s play.

“ACIB you peaked too early.
Sanchez is having an awful game and to think we were close to drafting him.
This guy panics and has no poise and hes been in the league a few years now, coming up to draft deadline day we could be getting a few calls about Flynn,”

Indeed, Sanchez has proceeded to crap the bed and resume being awful. Shame, I liked him at USC, he might have been a good QB had he not decided to leave school early.

Although I will be infuriated if we trade Flynn and continue with Wilson as our unquestioned starter even though he hasn’t earned that at all.

Could be Flynn for Bowe, PC has chosen his guy to lead the team and it doesnt look like thats changing anytime soon, save for injuries.
The short week was tough coming off a euphoric win against the Pats and a real bump back down to earth for RW. We match up well with Detroit who will have a short week themselves so im looking for a bounce back victory next Sunday. To me this is a pivotal game for Wilson, midway through the year, enough time to plan and rest and watch tape. Its time for him to put up good numbers a good performance and a Win on the road.
I dont think he has any hiding places if he produces a performance that we witnessed in the 2nd laf against the Niners.

This is a game Wilson if he is the answer should be able to show the 12th man what hes got

Heck I would trade our 1st for a solid WR to play opposite of Rice. I have said this before – I would have given up a #1 to get Wallace from the Steelers – IF he and Rice could play on the field at the same time.

“Hell, this team can’t even beat the Rams with RW at the helm, on the road.”

Right, but it seems like we did ok w/him at the helm against the Pats, Packers, Cowboys and Panthers . . .

Life goes on. It looks pretty set that Wilson gets the rest of this year barring an injury, let’s see where we are on the QB issue in the off-season. It’s feeling like we’ve pretty well exhausted the discussion topic from all sides at this point.

“elway had more 4th quarter comebacks than anyone and he was great. usually it’s a crappy D that causes that, wouldn’t you agree? in this case it’s a crappy offense that is real inconsistent including wilson. he does seem to shine late in games when it matters most. i think it is that everyone kinda goes “oh shit we gotta get it together” and they all step up and play to the level they can.”

You’re absolutely right about it usually being a crappy defense that causes the need for 4th quarter comebacks. However, I am certain everyone here is in agreement that this is simply not the case with our team. Our defense is elite in many aspects, namely points per game, which we are (I believe) still top 2, only behind the Bears. The fact that we are still trailing at the end of every game besides against the Cowgirls is pretty damning evidence that our offense is simply not getting the job done by any reasonable definition. And after rewatching the games on DVR, I pretty certain Wilson’s “stepping up” is a mirage of playing prevent defenses. Matt Flynn’s comeback against the Detroit Lions last season was a result of crappy defense forcing him into a shootout. Russell Wilson’s comeback situations are a result of the offense accomplishing virtually nothing the entire game despite the defense locking opponents down.

“like i said i am not adverse to flynn playing, but at this point it’s wilson and he is making rookies mistakes as he will. i do see improvement but thats just me.”

I’m not against the idea of Wilson starting on principle, but it doesn’t seem fair that a great team is being held back by rookie mistakes, when there is no obligation to start a rookie quarterback.

“based on the opinion of a lot of really good coaches, x coaches and annalists.

now we can argue about that all day but until you win a superbowl acib i will trust their opinion more than yours. no offense.”

That’s an appeal to authority. Coaches/analysts/scout are not flawless. Really good coaches and analysts also said Aaron Curry was a “lock” to be a Pro Bowler and a “safe pick” and yet he’s pretty clearly the worst Seahawks draft pick since Lamar King, and that’s saying something considering we drafted busts like Chris Spencer, Kelly Jennings, and Lawrence Jackson. Some coaches/analysts/etc also said Blaine Gabbert was the best QB of the last draft.

That TD that RGIII dropped in to his guy, right before Eli’s great pass was really sweet…

Joe Flacco 21/43 147 YDS, 1 TD 2 INT. That’s a very common stat line for the Seahawks rookie starting Quarterback. These are not common stat lines for a then 5-1 Ravens team. After Flacco takes a page out of the Russell Wilson handbook to Quarterbacking in the NFL, the Ravens, and Flacco’s awful day, got drubbed 43-13, by an elite team, on the road. If Wilson could put up good numbers versus a contender, I’d be pretty stoked.

Announcers just said that Flacco’s OLine had a really rough day… So it looks like even a real good and a real tall QB has a tough day with spotty O-Line play. Kinda seems like any good QB will have a rough day behind a suspect OLine facing a real good D…

“Right, but it seems like we did ok w/him at the helm against the Pats, Packers, Cowboys and Panthers . . .”

Here are our point totals against those teams

Packers – 14
Cowboys – 27
Panthers – 16
Patriots – 24

Now, of course, merely looking at point totals isn’t the whole story, mainly a lens to look at things through:

Packers – We were held to 7 points until the final seconds of the game, in which Wilson robbed a prayer that resulted in Tate’s infamous catch. That was a poor performance all game by Wilson, scrambling early, taking a jawdroppingly bad sack, looking hesitant. Our lone 7 points prior to the end were from a deep pass to Tate. Was it a good pass? Absolutely. That particular deep seam route towards the right appears to be the only pass Wilson is consistently good at throwing though, resulting in TDs to Anthony McCoy, Tate, Doug Baldwin, and Sidney Rice. I don’t think a passing game can survive being based only on playaction bombs with no threat of any other pass, and the fact that it hasn’t succeeded much this season is proof of that.

Cowboys – Wilson did not capitalize on 2 turnovers (Felix Jones fumble and Romo interception), leading to a total of only 3 points on the ensuing drives, one of which Wilson giftwrapped an interception to Dallas LB (I think it was) Bruce Carter near the goal line, who dropped it, resulting in a field goal. The second half saw our OL dominate a pathetic Dallas team, allowing 2 long drives where Wilson threw a total of about 4 passes if I recall correctly, 1 of which being McCoy’s TD throw. I can’t penalize Wilson for executing the gameplan properly in this instance, because running Lynch certainly was effective, but I would not attribute this victory to anything in particular that Wilson did.

Panthers – This game is why completion percentage can be misleading. This was Wilson at his worst when it comes to reads, he was prematurely checking down a lot, prematurely escaping the pocket, and missing open receivers. We only had 6 points at the half against a bad defense missing starters due to injury. In a game that our defense was absolutely sodomizing the opposition, we still managed to be down after Wilson tossed them an awful pick 6. Our only TD drive was after Browner forced that incredible fumble, and Tate making an impressive TD after bulling through Carolina’s secondary on a slant (stop unfairly roasting Tate guys, he’s had a very strong season until the SF game, and he also didn’t drop any passes last season despite inaccurate Tarvaris Jackson at the helm)

Patriots – This was a game that pretty much epitomizes Wilson so far. Look good in a couple of early scripted drives, look awful for the rest of the game, and then throw prayers up in the 4th quarter. These prayers usually do not work, but the Patriots already had an ghastly secondary and both of their starting safeties were out with injury. Wilson gained most of passing yards on a total of about 4 pass plays, 1 of which being the unplanned scramble bomb to Doug Baldwin.

I do not think we are capable of leading a consistent passing attack with Russell Wilson at quarterback.

IMO the branch trade was overdone – he only really shined in the SB – and the pats were more than happy to unload him to anyone who would give them the asking price – the same they have done with many players.

I love the way the Pats draft – they get solid players that fit them well – not all turn out GREAT but usually guys they draft in the top 4 rounds make a difference for the team.

Also they draft so well they can let guys like branch walk and pick up another pick for him. How many times have they done that? I can think of at least 3, just can’t remember names – Branch to us, a DL guy to the raiders and a safety to someone!!

If we can draft in the early rounds like that consistently we will be whining about not ALWAYS winning the division. Nice problem to have

xcman in my opinion the Patriots draft extraordinarily poorly since Pioli left, they’re only held together by Tom Brady, who is a glistening example of how a good QB can mask the deficiencies elsewhere on the team. I’d argue that Schneider/Carroll have had better drafts head to head than Belichick since they took over in 2010, the only real hits he has is Gronkowski and Hernandez, and even then I bet they’d look average/disappointing like Golden Tate/Zach Miller/etc do if they were on the Seahawks due to our poor quarterback play.

ACIB, Im afraid Tate looks average because he is average and even Tom Brady wouldnt help him. He doesnt run his routes and never finishes the play. On top of that he is starting to show tendencies that its all about him rather then the team
Unfortunately with the receivers we have here its not helping RW either.
We badly need to hit a top No.1 WR in the draft to play opposite Rice and let Tate go as soon as we get the opportunity

“Patriots – This was a game that pretty much epitomizes Wilson so far. Look good in a couple of early scripted drives, look awful for the rest of the game, and then throw prayers up in the 4th quarter.”

That’s a pretty unfair assessment. Using the word prayers for those long balls implies that they were hail mary passes – which wasn’t the case at all.

Here’s the thing, I think you make some fair points, I’m not going to disagree w/you that the Hawks offense needs to be better, needs to score more points for the team to be really good. I just think you’re much too harsh on Wilson, who is showing signs, in my opinion, of the good QB he can become, while going through some very typical rookie struggles. I think something about the way this has gone down is making you too quick to jump all over RW’s shortcomings, and unwilling to give him his due when he’s done good things. We’re 4-3, and he gets some of the credit for it.

ACIB – I will agree on the post – Pioli drafting – but truth be told, I am not very high on how we have drafted in the early rounds. If you look at the talent we have picked up in rounds 4-7, it is arguably as good as or better than the top 3 rounds by these guys.

Love the fact we are hitting on guys late but you HAVE to hit with the guys early in the draft more often than what we are right now.

Agree Georgia. I think next week against Detroit will show us where this team is and more impotantly where RW is.
Detroit will be coming off a short week while we are coming off a long week. Plenty of time to watch tape and heel up.
We match up well with Detroit who are probably a middle of the road NFL team, if we want to take the step to becoming a regular play off team we need to be beating teams like Detroit and beating them well.
Wilson doesnt have anywhere to hide on this one and I think its huge for him for PC and for the team

“ACIB, Im afraid Tate looks average because he is average and even Tom Brady wouldnt help him. He doesnt run his routes and never finishes the play. On top of that he is starting to show tendencies that its all about him rather then the team
Unfortunately with the receivers we have here its not helping RW either.
We badly need to hit a top No.1 WR in the draft to play opposite Rice and let Tate go as soon as we get the opportunity”

No offense but this is an asinine assertion with no proof to back it up. Just because you don’t notice all the snaps Tate is doing a terrific job blocking and only see the one he whiffs on in a replay doesn’t make him a selfish teammate. Let Tate go as soon as we get the opportunity? Is this a joke? Tate has arguably been our best WR this season. Just because his made his first couple of drops in over a year doesn’t instantly invalidate all the progress he has made and continues to make.

The WRs are not the problem at all. Go watch the games again. They are open often, Wilson makes bad reads and bad progressions and often can’t see over the line. First it was OL penalties, then it was the WRs not getting open, now it’s WRs not being able to catch. People make all sorts of excuses for Wilson’s poor play but refuse to acknowledge that just maybe we don’t have a good quarterback under center.

It would be cool to start a new blog called “Russell Wilson Sucks” blog.

Everyone could go there everyday and make 20 -30 posts illustrating why he sucks, and they could all tell each other how smart they are for thinking that way, and then the very next day they could do it all over again.

It would be against blog rules to talk about anything else, unless of course you could tie it into how Russ Wilson sucks.

Anyone posting a different thought will be blacklisted and placed on ignore.

I bet we could get thousands of members, and it would be fantastic, just spending the entire day talking about short peoples lack of height… Man, just think about how cool that will be…

ACIB what numbers do you expect Wilson to put up against Detroit.
Do you truly believe he is incapable of ever putting a decent game together ?
Just curious as this does seem a key game for him and his development

ACIB – I will agree on the post – Pioli drafting – but truth be told, I am not very high on how we have drafted in the early rounds. If you look at the talent we have picked up in rounds 4-7, it is arguably as good as or better than the top 3 rounds by these guys.

Love the fact we are hitting on guys late but you HAVE to hit with the guys early in the draft more often than what we are right now.”

I think our success in rounds 4-7 speaks to how good the front office is, not necessarily an indictment on their early picks.

Russell Okung OT – Okung has elite talent and has pretty much been great from day one. He’s had some struggles with fluke injuries and recovering from them but he’s excellent at both pass and run blocking.
Earl Thomas FS – Thomas is arguably the best free safety in the NFL.
Golden Tate WR – Explosive, has consistency issues, I’d be willing to bet he’d look a lot better if the rotting corpse of Matt Hasselbeck, Tarvaris Jackson, and Russell Wilson weren’t throwing him the ball.

James Carpenter OT – Struggled at RT, but apparently he was the future LG all along, and he has looked dominant at the role.
John Moffitt OG – I LOVED Moffitt as Wisconsin, he was absolutely incredible. He struggled some early his rookie year but came on strong before his injury, also looked great this year before his injury.

Bruce Irvin DE – Jury’s still out of course but Irvin appears to be the right pick, we needed a lightning pass rusher and we got one.
Bobby Wagner MLB – Looked good all season outside of the SF game, progressing nicely week by week.

Carpenter and Moffitt are not playing like 1st and 2nd round picks more like 4th and 5th rounders. Moffitt was not playing great this year before his injury either he was splitting time as the starter, being subbed in and out of plays.
Okung has struggled with injuries granted and this year struggle badly with full starts, many of which the replacement refs missed. he is solid granted but elite, not yet.

ill give you Thomas but not Golden Tate, his whole pro career he has struggled with his route running and that seems to be something he cant correct which makes it impossible for any QB whether it be Hass, Jackson or Wilson to consistantly target him.

“ACIB what numbers do you expect Wilson to put up against Detroit.
Do you truly believe he is incapable of ever putting a decent game together ?
Just curious as this does seem a key game for him and his development”

A consistent passing game. I don’t want to see the 8th consecutive game of very little besides checkdowns and deep passes with no middle ground. I want to Wilson make better reads, not panic so much in the pocket, and do a better job leading receivers away from defenders, because I feel that his inaccuracy is why our WRs/TEs have to adjust so much to grab his passes, leading to almost no YAC.

Many people think I’m being too harsh on Wilson but he doesn’t get the benefit of being compared to other rookies because we have a veteran option on the bench who deserves an opportunity to play, and this team is too good to pretend that we weren’t going to make the playoffs anyway and we can just piss away the season in hopes that he develops.

Now, let’s say Wilson has another 10/25ish, low scoring stinker against the Lions and their trash secondary. Are we still going to pretend that Flynn really can’t do any better than this? Because the bar is incredibly low, and Flynn has already proven that he could incinerate that particular secondary. By the numbers, only Sanchez, Gabbert, and a couple others like Cassel and Vick are performing as poorly as RW is, and I’m tired of seeing such a marvelously talented squad go to waste.

Why wouldn’t anyone want the Packers to beat the Rams? A division rival to whom Seattle has lost bs a team they have the tie break advantage over. Today was perfect for the Hawks. They have such an uphill battle to make the playoffs, they need NFC West loses, as I see it.

ACIB good post and one I agree totally with.
I agree this is key for Wilson as their are no excuses. He puts up a stinker again against Detroit and shows no improvements in his poise, reads and accuracy in the bread and butter throws then it makes sense to have a look at what we have with Flynn.
Im kind of thinking PC is making those kind of noises too, the 9/23 122 yards doesnt get it done comment highlighting this.
I hope as a Hawk fan Wilson shows that improvement and we come away with the win otherwise the season is done as it wouldnt be fair to expect Flynn to walk in and have the rapport with the receivers from the start, that takes time to work on the timings etc

“AaronCurryIsBUST- You are sounding more and more like BobbyK every day.
Coinkidink?”

I don’t know what you are implying because I don’t really know BobbyK’s posting habits other than that he likes John Carlson and Sidney Rice and that I think he once proposed signing Orlando Pace and having an LT-LG-C combo of Walter Jones, Pace, and Mike Wahle. But I’m not him if that’s what you are trying to say because he’s been here longer than I have, I started commenting in like 2006 or 2007.

“Carpenter and Moffitt are not playing like 1st and 2nd round picks more like 4th and 5th rounders. Moffitt was not playing great this year before his injury either he was splitting time as the starter, being subbed in and out of plays.
Okung has struggled with injuries granted and this year struggle badly with full starts, many of which the replacement refs missed. he is solid granted but elite, not yet.

ill give you Thomas but not Golden Tate, his whole pro career he has struggled with his route running and that seems to be something he cant correct which makes it impossible for any QB whether it be Hass, Jackson or Wilson to consistantly target him.

Irvin and Wagner as you have stated its too early to call”

Based on what? I don’t understand how you can make such a concrete assertion like that. What constitutes them as playing like 4th/5th rounders? Carpenter has looked absolutely dominating as a run blocker and good as a pass blocker. Moffitt struggled in pass protection as a rookie while doing good as a run blocker, this season he improved and was good at both. His awareness is particularly impressive, remember when Chris Spencer and Rob Sims were letting free blitzers stream into the backfield untouched? You can’t expect every OL to be Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson reincarnate, because they were both Hall of Fame talents. Carpenter and Moffitt are both good offensive linemen with flaws, but you could say that about many of the best OL in football today.

Okung’s false starts are greatly exaggerated, as are Giacomini’s penalties. One or two tick-tack penalties in a few games doesn’t negate the 60 or so snaps they do very well in each game.

I don’t disagree that Tate still needs to improve as a route runner, but WRs don’t need to be flawless route runners to succeed in the NFL. Nate Burleson for example is an awful route runner and has had a very good career in the NFL, same with other players. I believe his physical talents (explosion, speed, leaping ability, hands) trump his limitations as a route runner, and his stats would be better if had someone like Jay Cutler or Tony Romo throwing to him. It’s not like he’s Dez Bryant bad, dropping everything in sight in every game and checking out after the first quarter on top of being a nuisance.

Here are my two cents on the performance issues of the offense. Don’t mean to argue with anyone or calling out another opinion, just trying to get things on topic.

We can all agree that the offense has issues while the defense is doing very well albeit with some troubling tendencies on 3rd and long. My impression is that there are several facets to the offensive struggles. Let’s break it down by area:
O-line: The line is doing well in run blocking and is middle of the road or slightly worse in pass protection. This line would be terrible without the TE help that they are frequently receiving. Unfortunately this spills over into the next area (receivers) as our Probowl TE has to help blocking and is not available as a receiver. The shaky pass protection is sometimes bailed out by RW’s ability to scramble regardless of the outcome of that scramble. At the beginning of the season, my personal preference was Flynn over Wilson but I think that he would be killed behind this line.
Receivers: Not world beaters. It seems to get a bit better as Baldwin seems to improve, Rice is very good but obviously no Megatron. Tate is infuriatingly inconsistent. I worry a bit that he does not take enough responsibility for his actions. His remarks after the SF game were not encouraging. Edwards is good but obviously was in the dog house for a while. There are times when RW pulls a perfect play action and has minutes in the pocket with no receiver being open. That happened a few times in the Patriots game against a “crappy” secondary. The dropsies against the 49ers were terrible and possibly decisive as the Hawks could have been up by 10 or more. That game was the worst but there were a few other occasions when the receivers did not help the cause (Arizona game). Looks to me like the receivers have to shoulder their part of the blame. However, there were without question occasions when receivers were wide open and did not get the ball.
Quarterback: In the beginning I was really concerned about “happy feet” and the wrong movements in the pocket (toward pressure not away from it). I watched RW closely in the Patriots game and the difference is night and day. Not like a seasoned veteran but much improved. There are some types of passes that RW is very good in delivering, notably long post routes or go patterns. It is important to note that the receivers are doing a lot of the work in those as they run underneath and make catches (notably Edwards and Rice with some spectacular ones). The medium seam route to the TE also works very well (already commented on TE blocking requirements) and the short out routes are servicable. I am concerned about the short and medium throws over the middle. Quick slant to Rice anyone? There is also a tendency to throw high which is deadly for your receiver (Rice touchdown at Arizona). I have not seen evidence that RW can make all the throws and I am concerned that this makes defensive game planning easier for opponents. In earlier games he clearly did not see open receivers but in the Patriots game I did not see any such occasions. I would be very interested to hear some opinions about any plays where his (lack of) height played a role as I do not feel competent to judge that.
Final factor, play calling: I have thrown objects in frustration during early games when there was another third down with an empty backfield after Lynch averaged 5 yards a carry throughout the game. I was also screaming for more play action. This has improved in my opinion, but our offensive play calling is not very surprising, creative or impressive at this point.

If anyone has other factors, please add to the list. However, unless you strongly disagree with the above, it should make a clear case that there is not one source of the offensive struggles, i.e. QB or other. Personally I am very curious what Matt Flynn could have done or could do but in my opinion there are too many issues here to be fixed by a simple QB switch. Any such suggestion is too simplistic in my opinion.

Please let me know what you think and add what I have missed. This blog has been great over the years so let’s keep it that way and talk about Seahawks football.

The Jets got what they deserved here. Playing for a FG at the end of the 4th and leaving more than a minute for Brady to march down and get it to OT is absurd. They may not have scored a TD of course, but you simply have to be more aggressive than playing for a FG there, after a pick deep in NE territory. Ryan will be crushed in NY after this one.

“ACIB – I remember that. In keeping with tradition, you ought to change it again (not that I encourage that sort of thin).”

I only changed it because Ruskell got rightfully canned and Aaron Curry was the new golden boy most everyone refused to acknowledge was terrible. Now that he’s proven himself a bust and is now gone doesn’t really make my ACIB handle out of date, he’s still one of the worst ever Seahawks busts.

and yet he was rated the surest, safest pick in the draft that year. He was on every magazine, espn, pro football weekly and sport illustrated among others. All the Mel Kipers of the world loved the guy and basically said he was a can’t miss. I don’t fault the team for picking him as we had a need as they had plugged old guys into that spot every year without dramatic success.

In hind site everyone can look smart and think we should have taken another guy at that spot. So looking smart I would have loved Matthews. I mean his dad was a stud hall of fame player and some of that has to rub off.

Numskull always went for the safest pick and avoided talent if they ever cursed or drank anything stronger than diet rite. Thank God that GM is gone and this team has fresh blood that has aggressively restocked this old and depleted team. A complete rebuild in three years is impressive. We’re not 100% there, but ask yourself if anyone would rather watch the team we have today VS the crap that was taking the field four years ago? Not a trick question.

I agree with Duke, you should change your name to “RW is a bust”…
You seem so sure of it, why not make it official? You can’t live in past forever, I mean Curry is now about 2 years gone? You were 100% right on that call, altho I don’t know that many people didn’t agree with you early on…, But, I can’t say for sure… But regardless, good call for sure.

So make your position official with Russell.

And if and when he busts, NOBODY will ever doubt you, myself included!
It’s a lock isn’t it?

“I agree with Duke, you should change your name to “RW is a bust”…
You seem so sure of it, why not make it official? You can’t live in past forever, I mean Curry is now about 2 years gone? You were 100% right on that call, altho I don’t know that many people didn’t agree with you early on…, But, I can’t say for sure… But regardless, good call for sure.

So make your position official with Russell.

And if and when he busts, NOBODY will ever doubt you, myself included!
It’s a lock isn’t it?”

I was right about Tim Ruskell, I was right about Kelly Jennings, I was right about Chris Spencer, I was right about Lawrence Jackson, I was right Aaron Curry, and I will be right about Russell Wilson. Not to toot my own horn, but my track record about this kind of thing has been flawless. Is it some intuition? Of course not, it’s facts and stats that back me up.

For one, and it’s too much of a neon sign not to ignore, no 5’10” QB has ever had a successful career. Too, there is compelling evidence his height prevents him from regularly being able to make all the throws.

Although I hesitate from calling Wilson a “bust”, because he’s a 3rd round pick with stacked odds of ever becoming a good QB in the first place. It’s not like, I dunno, drafting Sam Bradford, who’s expected to be a franchise QB based on his draft position and salary, and subsequently disappointed. My gripe is mostly with how a clearly unready rookie QB with questionable physical tools is starting over a veteran who’s done nothing but impress when he had the chance to start.

Wilson’s play practically screams decent to good career backup, certainly not “holy cow franchise QB locked up set it stone aww snap”.

ACIB “The only people who can defend that dwarf’s terrible play are under extreme delusion who find it their mission to irrationally defend every Seahawk player”
Really…you show no grasp of the English language, along with your obvious lack of football knowledge….for your information irrational behavior includes “All or nothing” thinking. Being unable to see shades of gray in everyday life can lead to major misperceptions and even despair. A person who thinks only in black-and-white terms can’t comprehend small successes…..Paranoia. In its extreme forms, paranoia slides into the realm of delusion. Many bipolar people experience less severe forms of paranoia because of personalizing events, catastrophizing, or making leaps in logic…..Delusional thinking. Most of the other thought styles mentioned above are mildly delusional. Seriously delusional thinking has even less basis in reality, and can include holding persistently strange beliefs….Grandiosity. Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance or ability….
The list goes on…..you appear to be a classic mental case by your rants….I suggest before you start throwing out more big words you understand what they really mean….
One of the most common components of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy (CBT) is identifying and answering irrational thoughts. Once you can label and dissect an irrational thought, you take away some of its power. The longer these patterns are allowed to continue, however, the more likely they are to become ingrained, lifelong habits. These habits of thought contribute to development of the hard-to-treat personality disorders that often bedevil bipolar adults.
Looks like you are on a path to destruction….not the Hawks…

Well, I don’t know that Jennings, Spence, or LJack were “Busts”, but certainly not what we had hoped for, where Curry truely was.
So c’mon man, go with your convictions. When you changed your name, it actually happened. The others, not so much. Are you not confident enough in your assessment of Wilson to publiclydeclare so with a name change.??

I think that a public “in person” ranting may qualify in your criteria for crazy, but I think statements in a blog, behind the safety of you screen and keyboard allow statements beyond normal to occur on a daily basis.. As many in here do. But it was super fun reading your stuff, carry on mate!!

Sluggo42 and Vancouver_42….Long time reader of this blog and infrequent commentor…I have had season tickets for over 20 years and through the Dan McGuire-Ken Bering(spelling?)years….I enjoy everyone’s comments on the games since you often see what I may not be able to…I respect your input and perspective…I do not appreciate the very few bloggers that mock or make fun of others for their beliefs…and I don’t believe that has happened on a regular basis over time…personnally, I believe in the current staff and players, until we get the next best thing….I love the signs of progress against some of the best teams in the nfl…as you both said…this is a football blog so I’ll have no further comments about personality…thanks for allowing my rant which has been building for days…

Just remember, we can’t “see” emotional conditions with the written word unless we add emotional punctuation as we type (emoticons). I’m sure ACiB is grinning ear to ear as he types these things in the hopes of “hoooking” someone else. Some of his points need to be seen, but his delivery just isn’t very soft lol. So agree or disagree with him, just don’t hate him, that doesn’t do anyone any good.

We match up pretty awesome with the Lions, with time to prepare for the trip east, should be a pretty fun game to watch. I love watching our D get loose on immobile QBs!

The Bering years we’re some of the, well they were the very worst years. He replaced Knox with Flores and then pick your bust any bust. He drafted by looks and not stats. So the biggest bust ever has to be the nearly 7 ft tall Mcguire. Slower than any offensive lineman.

Wilson has already done several thing Dan never did, win games and come from behind.

The current front office is building a long term winner. There are teams that pick late in the draft every year and still remain in the playoffs and have sustainable success year after year. Teams like the Packers, Giants, Patriots haven’t picked in the top ten in over a decade and still draft well, play hard and win. I see our front office and coaching staff building the same way and it’s exciting. This team is being put together for the long haul and not to win it all this year. Sure, they have an opportunity to go far this year if they can adjust and limit the mistakes, but will be a force for a long while.

I think that you are spot on and had a good chuckle myself but as some others have suggested, if we ignore the haters, they will eventually go away or at least won’t have their fire fueled. I totally get that your pot just boiled over as my feelings are very similar. Discussion is great but some of these so called opinions are presented as gospel and it gets a bit old.

I think we match up very well against Detroit. They have what many call the best receiver in the NFL. But then, we have a Hulk….sorry watched The Avengers earlier. But seriously, we do have two hulking defensive backs in Sherman and Browner. These guys are built to cover Megatron. He hasn’t seen DB’s like ours. They are used to covering Fitzgerald and held him down this year. After him, the talent level slides down a bit. They have a young, strong armed QB in Stafford. Not very mobile but he will throw it up to Calvin 20+ times and we will have great changes for interceptions this week.

Our defense is going to want to shut this down and I think they will have success. The Lions are thin at running back. They do have an above average d line and our O line and game plan will need to be on point to neutralize them for Wilson to be successful. The extra days off before travel will help the overall health of the team. I hope we can get Moffitt back for at least 30 plays. He makes a difference when in.

I feel good about going to Detroit and winning this game. They will be playing a Monday night game right before they play us and that will work to our advantage. Our fast D will be flying around on that turf!!

I had season tickets at the begining with family….from the mid-80’s work had me living in Tampa Bay…which I believe had thee worst NFL record for the eighties…I was living in Oklahoma when Jertry Jones bought the Cowboys…firing long time and popular coach Tom Landry and general manager Tex Schram….OKC is Dallas as Portland is to Seattle…and while blogs didn’t exist talk sports radio did and their were extreme comments made about the direction of the boys…with a Super Bowl a few years later…the 1-15 first season was soon forgotten…too bad Jerry Jones recoginized himself as the brains…I love the course these Hawks are on…and understand there is the potential for mis-steps…

Iks – Fire away baby!, I am WAY down with your analysis, I just thought that since it’s a blog, and nothing more, you were being quite “real”. But I laughed my ass off when I read it for sure. And really, you might be spot on… I’m just an old fart that worked in the waterworks for….well forever.. Retired now. So I have no valid expertise to include other than years of staffing evaluation. But I was always a little bit too “old school” for the new wave of thinking.

I honestly don’t understand the endless ranting on situations out of our control, which is why I throw my occasional wrench in, but you threw in the entire machine shop! Awesome post!

iksamish, I was at the Seahawks Cowboys game in Dallas in 1992. Flying in from California with two killer tickets and my best buddy who was a huge Cowboys fan since we were 8 years old, we were pretty excited to be there and check out our two favorite teams. Unfortunately for me we were the 92 Seahawks and the Cowboys were the team that moved on from that 1-15 and were ready to rule the 90’s. To say this game was a massacre would be an understatement to end all understatements is an understatement.

Our starter that day, none other than Dan Mcguire himself. That lasted about four minutes before he broke his hip right in front of us. I think he was sacked by 8 of the 11 guys on defense that play. Then they brought in another group of guys to play QB that had no business being behind center. I think the Cowboys literally knocked out four QB’s that day, including a backup punter. The worst football I have ever seen live or even on tv. It was hideous. I think the Cowboys won 27-0, but easily could have won 65-0 if they didn’t get bored. The Seahawks didn’t even get 100 yards passing that game. Maybe half. I don’t remember them even getting to the 50 yard line. My buddy the Cowboys fan was bummed after. I looked at him and said, man you guys just destroyed what is listed as an NFL team, why are you bummed? I just spent over $1,000 and watch my guys die right in front of me. He said the game was so boring it didn’t seem like a “real” game and was hoping for a closer, more enjoyable contest. Thank God there was a Hooters near by or I would have killed him right then.

Well Sluggo42…you didn’t say whether you worked on the supply side or the wastewater side…if in wastewater than you have the credintials for having your s**t together, and are instantly credible in my eyes…and thanks for the comments…

Mosehawk12…The origianl Hooters was on the Courtney-Campbell Causeway in Tampa…thus I now understand how Tampa was so bad…it was a retreat for bad games…actually it was an owner who wouldn’t spend (Hugh Culverhouse)…a fan base that were more interested in the “home” team (where they came from) than the new team in a transplanted Florida (retirement state primarily)…and some bad luck with ricky Bell who died young fropm cancer…a Vinny Testaverde who was color blind but later learned to cope with it…their “Cortez” in the Selmon’s….got your feelings on the travel and a bummer game…mine against the Jets with Mark Bravaro on a Monday night…can’t get the look of thwe stadium by the end of the game…with not likely 5,000 total fans in the stands…don’t recall the year…but prior to the dark years…

“Really…you show no grasp of the English language, along with your obvious lack of football knowledge”

Give me some proof of either claim. Because I actually watch the games more than once and don’t irrationally believe Russell Wilson is a great QB or will be in the future doesn’t mean in any way I have an obvious lack of football knowledge. In fact, it likely means I have more football knowledge than many who are arguing against that point.

*Yawn*

This is the same old tired crap. I post an unpopular but painfully true thing, the narrow-minded groupthinkers attack me and make it a personal issue instead of about football. Same happened with Aaron Curry, is happening with Russell Wilson, and will continue to happen with the next Seahawk who the fanbase is irrationally in love with.

lksamish- I like where you are coming from, ( not geographically ). I read a book a long time ago by David Burns called feeling good. It was a very good read in that it helped define many cognitive challenges and disorders. Thanks.

BTW- I found by reading this book that I had many disorders at different degrees myself. Dam! Lol.

“Guess what ACID, You are going to have to deal with Wilson starting on this team for the next 10- 15 years. You now have three choices.

1- you can accept it.

2- you can go away and find another team.

3- you can piss and moan until they take you away in a strait jacket.

I prefer #3. Lol.”

No offense but this is the same moronic sentiment that many RW nuthuggers have adopted. What exactly has he done to crown himself as the starting QB for the next 10-15 years? I’ve already talked about his poor stats, his unprecedented extreme undersized-ness, the fact that historically 3rd round picks have very rarely worked out as franchise QBs with few exceptions, and the fact that he can’t make all the throws and his short stature is limited his play, and this team. Does anyone honestly believe this pathetic quarterbacking performance is going to land him the starting gig beyond this season? You should all expect Flynn in soon if Wilson has a couple more garbage games like this and we still lose even though the defense holds the opposition to under 20 points.

But no, I get the same “HURRRRR ACID U DUM ASS DANGE-RUSS IS DA FUTURE U HATIN TROLL DURRRRRR HE’S A SPESHUL QB”

Like I said, I received the same blisteringly stupid opposition before with Aaron Curry and other players before, I was right every time while everybody tries to deny their lovefests in hindsight. Same will happen here; after Wilson plays himself out of the starting role and a real QB takes us to the playoffs, the majority of this blog is gonna be like “Man that Russell Wilson sure sucked! Remember those games where he literally completed less than 50% of his passes! And a majority of his games were barely over 100 yards passing! Wow did he suck, I’m glad we moved on, I always knew he was too short!” Etc.

I am getting a huge kick out of some of the people participating in this conversation. Some of you were the same people who got on myself and other for talking about fantasy football because it wasn’t “Seahawk related”. lol (BTW, it’s been an interesting read from Iksamish.)

ACIB – Curry was *never* defended the way Wilson is. Not even close. And to clarify something you’ve eluded to: you weren’t alone in criticizing him. In fact, you weren’t the first to do so here. However you were the most vocal and persistent, and correct. In any case…

I was over the line in saying I hate Eric but it’s frustrating how he planted the seeds of turning the public sentiment against Flynn and towards Wilson essentially from day 1. He’s a quality beat writer and provides great content so I was definitely wrong for saying that.

But notice how anti-Wilson people (me, RADEoN, Ewalter, a couple more) are the ones actually providing evidence while the Russellmaniacs are viciously attacking anyone daring to question Wilson, accusing us of being the same person, posting ludicrous and outlandish statements that have no basis in reality like how he’s the franchise QB for the next decade and we should all just leave, etc.

I refuse to be cowed by trolls and e-bullies. Matt Flynn > Russell Wilson.

Look, we all were hopeful that Curry would live up to his draft status. I mean how many times has Mel Hair Helmet been wrong? Unfortunately Curry was just another in a half decade line of missed opportunities from the previous management. But hey, they don’t work here any more and the guys running the show these days seem to have a couple of clues. Curry landed on Carrol’s staff even though they didn’t draft the guy. They did all they could to make him the next LT. It didn’t work out and thank God for all of us with actual non NFL experience, they drafted Earl, KJ, Cameron, Sherman, Wagner, and Irvin. This team is young, fast, aggressive, stout and a pleasure to watch. The surface is just being scratched. Enjoy these guys for the next half decade.

Well ACIB….I would say your posts are ineffective to a majority if not all…because…What Are Irrational Beliefs?…. Unfounded attitudes, opinions and values we hold to that are out of synchrony with the way the world really is….. Negative sets of habitual responses we hold to when faced with stressful events or situations…. Habitual ways of thinking, feeling or acting that we think are effective; however, in the long run they are ineffectual…. Patterns of thinking that make us appear to others as stubborn, bullheaded, intemperate, argumentative or aloof…. People are so opinionated; they are never willing to listen to other’s points of view….do you think any of that applies to you?

Props for you to even know about the two sides of the waterworld. I was Maint. manager for both! So I saw ya coming and going lol.
We also had a solid waste disposal site (landfill). So I have seen it all in that world, Appreciate you knowing the difference. A super good friend of mine runs a small, but nationally acclaimed pot water district up there, just south of Oly. He is also a world class bass fisherman who has taught me a ton about bass fishing. Lake Samammish is one of his favorites, and one of these days if and when I can get up there, he is going to take me out on it, cant wait!

Dukeshire- you lose alot of respect from this blog when you sympathise with posters like the 14 year old pimple faced punk and the other one that wants Wilson to get injured, and thinks that women shouldn’t have any say as regards to football.

You say you want this blog to get better, however( as a long time respected blogger) if you don’t call this crap out how can this blog get better? The ball is in your hands.

Look, I’ve butted heads with ACUB for several weeks and the thing is he will not accept anything other than Wilson sucks because he’s too short. Many of us have lined out detailed information that speaks to why this argument is “short sighted” couldn’t help it and have not made a dent in the thought process. I’ve mentioned many times how football is a game played and won by 11 guys on each side of the ball. One guy misses a block, running back goes the wrong way, receiver drops the pass, QB throws to the wrong guy and the OC calls the wrong play at the wrong time and unfortunately these items are all thrown at the feet of Wilson because he isn’t 6’5″. The NFL is about wins and loses. Also about how many tickets, t-shirts, hats and other products the “fans” buy. None of us really have a say with the Seahawks or any team, yet we like to think we are smarter than the guys paid millions to do so. This team, with a rookie QB doing better than all other rookie QB’s drafted this year is the starting QB on a team that is 4-3 and one game out of first. There has been 7 games played this season and another 9 to go. Of those 9, 6 are at home. I’m certain unless, Wilson throws 5 picks against Detroit or gets hurt, something Radeon hoped for earlier, which is just immature and unforgivable, we will not see Flynn this year. I think Flynn is great and was really excited we were able to land him in free agency. He didn’t win the job. End of story. I’m a bit surprised Wilson won the deal, but as I’ve stated several times, Carrol, and the guys that run this team, that have many, many years of real world professional NFL experience and less time to rant than all of us with keyboards make that call. Wasting yet more time explaining it to ICIB is not ideal, but I’m soft on the slow. Flynn will kick ass when he gets’s the chance. It just might be in 2013 when he’s on the Cardinals. And Believe me. THAT WILL SUCK FOR US.

GeorgiaHawk….Thank you and yes the last week, (well most weeks unless we win) has been extreme even for these two. I mentioned that I have many female friends that could run circles around these clowns. Some comments are just too stupid to type. Yet, they appear right in front of the many that are only trying to have a rational conversation about the Seahawks. Thumbs in the up position!!

lksamish,
You’re a very informative person with great knowledge of everything but football it seems.Those life stories and psychological classes have absolutely nothing to do with the hawks.Just intended to degrade an individual that rubbed you the wrong way.

The way of Russell Wilson seems to be wide and broad, and easy to jump in with the popular crowd.I choose not to be on any sides, but rather talk about what I see and where this team can improve.Not insult those whom call out our franchise saviour, just wanting to see this team succeed.

“Dukeshire- you lose alot of respect from this blog when you sympathise with posters like the 14 year old pimple faced punk and the other one that wants Wilson to get injured, and thinks that women shouldn’t have any say as regards to football.”

Translation: Dukeshire you lose my respect when you agree with people who have a different opinion than mine, boo-hoo!

Georgia – I’ll let you know the next time I get extra busy with work and then take a mini-vacation if that’s what you want/need.

It’s pretty classless when you talk about me when I’m not around (like yesterday) and then make a baseless accusation (like earlier with ACIB and insinuating that perhaps he is me, too). Talk about a 14 year old pimple face, look at the guy in the mirror in this scenario (not you, as a whole).

If you must know:

I went Omaha (Nebraska) on Thursday (watched the game in a bar). I drove to Schaumburg (Chicago) on Friday with a bunch of fellow Cornhusker fans and went to the game yesterday on the Northwestern campus. Today, I went back to the Omaha area AND then came home (way out of the way from where I live in MN). It was a long day.

I have a Kindle and had WiFi for part of the trip but I hate writing with that thing (really hate the auto corrects) and was only interested in what people were saying about the game on Thursday. I even traded some texts with Duke about things Seahawks related. I’m back so you can stop the “he went away from the blog like a baby” stuff (although that’s not an exact quote, it’s spot on with respect to how you meant it).

If you had been here with ACIB some years back, you’d remember me disagreeing with him about Curry being a bust. To be clear, I thought early on that Curry looked like a bust as a SAM (and I’m on record as saying I never would have drafted him), but was sure he’d make a Pro Bowl type of player at Leo. I was wrong and ACIB was right on that. If he was really me, as you alluded to even though you didn’t come out and say it, why in the world would I have gone to war with that guy about Curry being a potentially great Leo just so ***I*** could argue against ***me***?

You’re better than that and I’m better than that (although we can all have our moments). Can we try to be better than that for the sake of the blog in the future?

As many smart, dedicated Seahawks fans have posted over the past several months regarding Wilson. This player has brought out the best and worst of many of us. Yet, he’s only started 7 games and has won 4 of them. The team is in second place with a favorable schedule that should assist them in making a run to the division lead. The 49er’s are legit and could easily win the division. The Rams and Cards have major injury and schedule issues that should land them in the 3rd-4th place area. A very real 10-6 finish is right there for this Seahawks team. The QB position has been decided by the guys paid millions to make those decisions. All the endless bickering to prove you’re right or I’m right has been wasted and not remotely a factor. Watch this team or don’t. Root for wins WITH the guys starting and playing or don’t. But stop hoping for the worst and failing as fans to better make yourself look smart. This does not apply to all the many dedicated Seahawks fans that have been spending free time here. We need all of us to push this through and see where it goes!!
Enjoy the many positive and encouraging aspects of this team. Things we haven’t been a part of for a while. I’m diggin it. Are You?

Ewalters….thanks for the posts….I don’t object to your posts…not sure how we define a Seahawk fan…but a long time season ticket holder that shows up for every game…an occasional road game..and interested in them winning…Russel Wilson may not be the answer and I don’t need to comment on whether that is true or not….to call him a dwarf and anyone that doesn’t agree with ACIB as trolls, is simply bad manners and has nothing to do with football…or maybe you define football knowledge as calling people names…

ACIB “The only people who can defend that dwarf’s terrible play are under extreme delusion who find it their mission to irrationally defend every Seahawk player”

Vancouver_Hawk68, outstanding comment. Although I disagree with your view on the OL’s performance, very reasonable breakdown of the offense as it stands right now. Anyone who missed it should scroll up a little and check it out, great stuff.

BobbyK- Had to get you back here some how. Sorry that it was in a round about way.

The only thing that triggered me to compare you with acib was his opinion that our recieveing corp was doing fine. Which you have stated many times in the past.
You disappeard big time and acib appeared big time. however I truely didn’t think he was you, however I figured if he wasn’t you, you would show up to set me straight. Lol.

When you get married, you have to choose a best man. Normally it’s your best friend.

Then you pick the guys who are going to stand up there with you (as she does with the ladies).

Lastly, out of your best remaining family/friends, you pick the ushers.

Every person in that wedding party is special to you. The people you don’t like, you don’t invite (or you only invite, but don’t make them part of your wedding party).

My best man would be Brady, Manning, Luck, Rodgers, etc.

But if I choose my Seahawks wedding party (a loose example), I’d have Matt Flynn standing up there with me (but he wouldn’t be the best man).

Russell Wilson would be an usher. That’s not a knock on Wilson. I like him or I wouldn’t have him in my wedding party. I wouldn’t even have invited him to the wedding. But since I like him so much, he’d be an usher. That’s a compliment because I like him.

Time goes by in life and you don’t see some friends as much as you used to. A guy standing up there with me might move away and we don’t see each other as much and get to hang out like we used to and one of the ushers might live in the same town and you see them more often and in a few years you’d consider them a better friend than the guy who stood up there with you. That’s where I’m at with Flynn/Wilson (I may end up liking him more). I like both. I have never seen anyone name an usher in their wedding party if they hated them (I never would). That’s why I don’t understand why I get lumped in the Wilson “hater” club sometimes and it really ticks me off because I like him!

ACIB…..wow….so you that is your defense for posting the acid comments…sorry that happened to you….think there might be a more effective way of communicating than what you have been doing? Sorry you feel the way you do about the Seahawk quarterback…you have the right to feel that way, or analyze that way….but I think I can say wait a minute when you call me a troll…I’m not necessarily here to find people that agree with me but to seek a variety of opinions…even yours when it isn’t personal…maybe I don’t know what you know about football…half the games by the time I arrive home the main blog is done…I am content and value reading all the comments…there are people in the stands when an incompletion is thrown that I hear comments of Wilson being short…so I understand the viewpoint…but then those fans are at the game hoping the team win, and all is forgiven…

Dukeshire- Believe me, your voice is the overwhelmingly heard and respected voice on this Blog. No matter what I say or anyone else says.
More so than Eric. ( In no way did I mean that as an insult to Eric), He’s done a fine job, imo.

Golden Tate is and has been a high maintenance guy….not without talent, but sometimers managing that talent is more work than ther results he will give you…seems like we have had a few recievers like that in Stevens and Robinson…with similar stories and tradesx following…I don’t have great hope he can change…

“Golden Tate is and has been a high maintenance guy….not without talent, but sometimers managing that talent is more work than ther results he will give you…seems like we have had a few recievers like that in Stevens and Robinson…with similar stories and tradesx following…I don’t have great hope he can change…”

Is this a serious post? Oh dear god. Golden Tate drops his first couple of passes in literally over a year and now the progress he’s made this year is conveniently ignored and he’s literally being likened to douchebag alcoholics and human scum like Jerramy Stevens and Koren Robinson.

ACIB…Instead of the idea that certain acts are self-defeating or antisocial, and that people who perform such acts are behaving stupidly, ignorantly, or neurotically, and would be better helped to change. People’s poor behaviors do not make them rotten individuals….all is forgiven….your football skills anaylis has already been flushed as a hopeless cause…

GeorgiaHawk returns with the childish name-calling and absence of any football discussion whatsoever. I expected nothing less from you.

“ACIB….your football knowledge is Zero in my book…you human skills are borderline yuk….”

Iksamish…you ellipsis posting joker…based on what did you come to that conclusion about me…I would like to know…actually I wouldn’t…I’ve heard enough of your amateur hour psychoanalysis already…I come here to talk football and Seahawks…not read irrelevant diatribes by a Frasier Crane wannabe…

You made a ragingly ignorant statement and got called out for it, then proceed to personally attack the person calling it out. Nice try, Dr. Phil, but you’re not going to get away with perpetrating a ridiculous falsehood about Golden Tate being high management diva like Stevens or Robinson. There is nothing to indicate that Tate isn’t anything but a talented young WR who is working hard at improving his craft.

Golden Has teased us with his “playmaking” skills. Of course he has also been the guy that makes us wonder if he is “the Guy”. Dropping the easy 3rd and 2 right in his hands is really, really tough to defend. He had clearly beat the DB and knew he was the main target on that play. I think they had called a timeout right before although I could be wrong about the timeout part. The ball was delivered perfectly on target, not too much heat and right on his front hip as he was moving towards the middle of the field. He just dropped it and it seemed at the the time it was due to lack of focus. The defense certainly had nothing to do with it, nor did Wilson. Then on another series he completely wiffs on a critical block and doesn’t show any effort at all that kills the quick pass to Obomanu. This play would have gained a first down if Tate shows any desire to block and complete his assignment. Against Green Bay, sure he makes the much discussed miracle catch that gives us the replacement win, but just a series earlier he runs the wrong route and interferes with the open Rice and removes a sure TD by knocking it away. Tate has ability, just not sure if he has the brain. I have his jersey, so I’m not hatin, just he’s like your girlfriends best friend, really hot and sexy, but you can’t be alone with her because she causes trouble.

Well, ACIB, in defense of those other posters, it is true that Golden Tate broke into a Top Pot store, stole some doughnuts and the keys to the store, freaked out the employees enough that they called the police, and was almost certainly high or drunk or both at the time.

He’s not Jerramy Stevens or Koren Robinson, obviously, but he’s not the choir boy type, either.

I never thought I would say this but I really miss ole Matty Hasselbeck.Great leader with experience, and can get the job done Like he’s doing now.He has clearly reclaimed that starting job.

He would have flourished with this young team.But due to the gut feeling of our head coach, he decided to let Matt hit the market with no thought of bringing him back.I must say, once he went out and signedbT-jack along with trading for CBJ, I was convinced that
something was clearly wrong.

He signed J P. Losman, hope that he would return to college for, failed.Signed Nate Davis because he had mobility and a big arm, cut.Reached out to Maty Leinart, ditched.Signs Matt Flynn (all because of JS imo), deceived.

Then along comes LITTLE Russell Wilson, Mr charisma himself.A guy with all the skill in the world that is certain to be a hall of famer in the CFL(no offense), and the coach can see apart of himself in this guy.So he just couldn’t resist giving this guy the reigns with hope that he can magically become this instant Drew Brees, and once the dream is over snd you wake up, you see that this rookie has spilled milk all over the kitchen.You simply clean it up and tell him good job.

So no chance of GTIB? Good to know. I think he does make plays. I just don’t trust him to do that every time his number is called. I feel Edwards has a bit more to prove being a former #1 pick and all and has shown the desire to attack and go after balls that do arrive perfectly on the money. Golden seems like a cute puppy that fetches after the ball two or three times and then on the fourth time might go get it, but doesn’t bring it back for sure. Just seems to lose focus after a couple of times. Yes…….He didn’t have an “official drop” during the 2011 season. He also didn’t start and wasn’t asked to catch 80 passes last year. This year he IS a starter and should be expected to make catches, blocks and be a difference maker on a team with young talent in many key positions including the QB position. They already pulled him from kick and punt return assignments as Leon is one of the best and also because they wanted to limit his “thinking” in game. I hope the dude turns it up several notches and finds his way. We need him to make us forget about all the #2 receivers that were really numbers 3’s.

Wow ewalters7354, is that the bedtime story you read the kids at night? I also love Matt Hasslebeck, but he decided to leave as he felt he had a better opportunity to start elsewhere. I now follow the Titans which I never did before and am super proud of the way Matt has handled everything, including not pouting or being a baby about losing his starting QB job to a 2nd year high draft pick in Locker.

I’m also slightly jealous thinking that if he was still with us we would be 5-1 or so. But we wouldn’t. Our O line has been ok to poor at best and he would have been out with multiple injuries. So Wilson would be starting and playing by now because Matt would have been injured. Not a big stretch as he had several in the last few years he was here. It happens as you get closer to 40.

Signing Flynn was far from deception as JS was around the guy every day from the time he was drafted. Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers also spoke very highly of Flynn. He performed well in limited opportunities and was the highest rated QB in the free agent market. He was a free agent and could have signed anywhere. He chose Seattle even though he was told he would be competing for the starting job. Like many of you I thought for sure he would win the job and play very well for us over the next few seasons. I mean his three year contract was really just one big audition for that next 5-7 year multimillion dollar “Big” contract that all the stud QB’s get.

So no offense my ass when you say hall of fame cfl. That statement is designed to offend. The “LITTLE” part is so over and used up I just can’t believe some of you guys still pull it out. I guess when you have few cards to play you go with the last face card hoping you don’t bust.

I’m certain nobody on the Seahawks staff thinks he’s the next Drew Brees. The Saints run a completely different offense and Drew has been in the league for about ten years now. The two couldn’t be any farther apart. Drew Brees would be a very different QB if he played here. Probably still really good, but the numbers would be much different. We’re not the Saints. Russel Wilson is not Drew Brees.

The NFL isn’t a dream. It’s all about wins and losses. Nobody cares about spilt milk and stupid analogies. Check the standing and see that the Seahawks with Wilson are 4 and 3 one game out of first. The Saints just won their second game of the season and will need a ton to make the playoffs with Atlanta sitting at 6-0. This dream isn’t over as the Seahawks have 9 games remaining with 6 of those at home. A record of 10-6 is possible which should be good enough for a wild card with the rest of the NFC losing more than the NFC West.

Telling any NFL player “good Job” doesn’t win games and real NFL coaches don’t have the time or patience to provide such coddling. Coaches are fired every year based on wins and losses. Potential is a term fans use to feel better about themselves. This team has the advantage of professional opinions and hundreds of hours of conversations and film study. The guys that do this for a living see a million more things than you or I with our trusty keyboards.

Wilson is one of 11 on offense. He doesn’t play defense or special teams. He currently has a 4-3 record as a starting QB in the NFL. That is a winning record regardless of his draft position, height, TD to INT percentage or what teams he has played and won or lost against. Football is a complete TEAM sport and every guy has to pull their weight and makes his play to allow the team to be successful. The 2012 Seahawks have had multiple false starts, holding, unnecessary roughness, missed blocks, routes run incorrectly, dropped passes and interceptions that have hit receivers and running backs in both hands before flying into the air for interceptions. The QB has missed some throws and perfectly placed others. The Team has made mistakes. Some mistakes cost them field position. Other cost them points. Many of cost them games. The QB is one of the 11 on offense that is part of that.

The 2012 Seahawks don’t have the perfect roster. Few teams do. They have a team that has been put together in a short period of time. They have a lot of young talent. They don’t seem to have any quitters or hacks. Thank God as they are in every game with a chance to win. Very few team can say that.

The only disadvantage I see is the posters that want to throw in the towel after 7 games and whine non stop that the guy they want playing QB for the Seahawks isn’t. That dream is over for this season. Yet we all are constantly awakened by the endless drivel regarding what could have been. What could have been died when we played 7 games and won 4 of them. I mean call your ex girl friends and tell them you want to get back together, but start bringing something new and useful to the blog, maybe something regarding THIS weeks game.

There are a lot of passionate Seahawks fans that just want to talk to other passionate Seahawks fans without getting killed for every little statement. Bring up your game and find a way to move the damn ball. Recess is over. The kids that want to take your balls and go home….please go. The kids that want to moan, complain and cry over spilt milk, grab a paper towel.

Once again someone takes my post as far ad they can.Smh…bro do you have any sense of humor?

The Cfl joke wasn’t made to offend like you say, it’s just a level of humorAnd you can say head coaches don’t say it’s ok when rookies stink it up? Well if you pay attention every game Wilson struggles, Pete always consoles him and tells
him he’s the guy and so on.That’s good encouragement, no doubt.But at some point you have to acknowledge what’s happening as a result making as hasty decision based on above average play and all the hype surrounding this kid in preseason.

It all boils down to my opinion, so getting offended or taking hyperbole serious is all on the reader.It was never intended to rub anyone the wrong way.

Well, it’s official. The quality of Seahawk football discussion here is so low, and the foolish quotient so high, it has become a waste of time to read, let alone contribute to this blog.

I mean really: Eric turned the public against Flynn in favor of Wilson, and that somehow influenced PC’s decision? Eric publically supported Flynn starting; if anything, his constant questioning of the decision deep into the season (every post-game set of questions included one about whether Wilson was the right guy to start) helped keep alive the controversy.

The blatent disregard for facts; the constant insults and repetitions; the complete inability to respond intelligently to something new – it has grown incredibly old.

It’s like a grade school playground, one filled with spiteful and ignorant children.

Wow i thought we’d have moved on by now.
Sorry Georgia i’m off to the hot springs again, i’ll try to catch up to the monday chat. It sucks when people are chased away because we can’t move on. One more week…..

I’m going to make an effort moving forward to focus on contributing to this blog in a more responsible way instead of reacting to the silly stuff that is not going to change the FOs position moving forward.

I think most Seahawk fans didn’t expect the Seahawks to be much better or worse at this point of the season. I know the so called experts didn’t.
I think before the season started I stated that the Seahawks could be anywhere from 6-10 to 10-6, depending how this young team matures through the season. And I also said that even if they finish 6-10, (and I don’t think that will happen now) this team will be much better than last years team because of the more difficult schedule.

4-3 with nine games left, (one game out of first) and the 49ers, Cardinals, and Rams at home.
I’ll take that as positive position to be in moving forward.

Also, I remember PC telling Matt Hasslebeck that they decided to move on.So don’t give me the he left crap.

The o-line would give up less sacks with MH all because of his overall knowledge of the game.All good QBs make their line play better.

I know it’s seems that I’m hard on PC and Russell, but here is why…Russell Wilson says all the right things, but there was one statement in particular saying that the more knowledge of football you have the slower the games become.Then he went and laid eggs in all but two games this season.He also made a statement saying how the hawks can throw it around anytime, any place, and how because of Marshawn Lynch, they aren’t needed to score as much.

I understand he’s a rookie and I don’t put all blame on him for not being quite ready for this level of football.That’s why I felt he should sit and learn the nuances of the offenses and watch a veteran (even with two starts) show him what he learned from a great coach/system.Which brings me to the head coach…

He goes out and starts a THREE way competition at QB.Knowing that was harm for the entire offense, doesn’t have the overall competition he preaches.I guarantee you Marshawn Lych and you know a few others who are(barring injury) starters.

Doesn’t give T-jack any type of chance come preseason, now all those first team reps he had were pointless.Starts and praises the heck out of MF and all of all sudden RW starts playing good football in preseason, although against guys who are vying for practice squad spots.Flynn gets hurt(so called) and Wilson kills the awful Chiefs and here we go.You are so amazed by the play,that your gut tells you,”The heck with the other guy”.

Now the team is playing decent/above average in all areas except for QB.Now it’s starting to hold the team back and always keeping games close with poor production.

Ewalters7354- I do agree with you that Hasselbeck was given a raw deal here, ( meaning a one year take or leave it deal ) and I think he would have led us to the playoffs last year and this year, however all my ranting will never bring him back.

And I’m sure many here don’t want to hear my ranting about that anymore. Lol.

but I think my original thought is closer to the truth. There are 3-4 people in here that revert back to Russ is a bust no matter what. Every single thread, the same people bring up the same thing, and go crazy with it. It’s not like it isn’t a concept without merit. But the endless myopic stream that never waivers has brought this blog to it’s knees. It’s sad that it’s come to this…

agreed sluggo. while those 3-4 were not posting yesterday there was some great conversation on here. worst part is you go back and read those post of the 3-4 it’s obvious that they get kicks off of doing it.

Seattle steps up to so called elite or better than average QB’s. They have defeated Rodgers, Romo, Newton, and Brady. They have lost to Kolb/Skelton, Bradford, and Smith. Based on that simplisitc logic, they should manhandle Stafford, and probably make Cutler look like the pissy Cutler and not the pro bowl Cutler.

You defeat a fast, inexperienced defense using traps and counters. Junior Seau (RIP), as good as he was, could run himself in and out of plays in a couple of steps because of his speed. Hopefully the defense will figure this out and make between game adjustments. I honestly don’t see Seattle making in game or halftime defensive adjustments. They got gashed by NE in the first quarter and held them to 9 points the rest of the way. Every other game the defense has been consistent seemingly making no adjustments at halftime. Am I the only one who sees this?

We already know they pretty much do not make offensive adjustments at halftime. PC seems to think that he doesn’t need to make any halftime adjustments. It appears that he feels that his game plan will work if you execute it long enough. Problem is the game is only 60 minutes and it appears we haven’t made any changes in any game this season. Other than the second half of the Niners game, and the first quarter of the NE game, the defense has been consistent. Other than the NE game, and part of the Carolina game, the passing offense has been atrocious. While RW has completed in excess of 65% of his passes in several games, he still doesn’t move them up and down the field with any consistency. Red zone woes and third down conversions are going to doom this team. That’s why I think they should just chuck it in the end zone once they hit the opposing teams 30. You are still in field goal range and everyone knows you can’t score once you get inside the 20 so what does it hurt?

Someone said that the Niners made the blueprint for beating the Hawks. So did St. Louis and Arizona. Heres’t the thing though. If you don’t have the horses to run that type of offense or defense to defeat Seattle, stealing someone’sgame plan will do you no good. You have to work within the strengths and weaknesses of your own players. Hence why Seattle can’t borrow anyones playbook who can throw the ball since we can’t do it. Seattle made the blueprint for beating NE. Let them throw the ball all over underneath, then tighten up in the red zone. Yeah. I’d like to see the Jets, Bills, or Miami try that.

0-3 in division. 3-0 out of division in conference. If we play well against Detroit, Minnesota, and Chicago, maybe we go 6-0, 5-1 out of division and have the tie breaker on most of those guys at the end of the season. I can honestly say that with the way the NFC West is playing, I can see everyone holding serve at home which turns it all into a push and makes it a conference game run. SF, AZ, and STL all have at least one conference loss so we are a game up in that aspect. But using the theory that all NFC West teams will win at home will have to wait until the end of the season. 10-6 is not out of the question, but neither is 6-10.

Football is a game of chess and we have a high schooler playing against grand masters. That kid will come out and beat those who don’t take him seriously, but will get owned by those who know his tendencies.

Anyone been paying attention to any San Fran blogs? Everyone knows Alex Smith is the weakest link in that chain. Wonder how they handle that he has lost to Minnesota and the Giants (at home none the less). Two teams that now own the tie breaker on San Fran.

10. Seattle (4-3). Have to give props to left tackle Russell Okung for doing something I never thought I would see in an NFL game (or a biker street fight, for that matter): Okung pancaked Justin Smith in the Thursday night game. Stunning. You do not pancake Justin Smith. You just don’t.

1. I think this is what I liked about Week 7:
a. Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch meeting Dashon Goldson and bulling him five yards past the initial hit.

And some constructive criticism too.
b. Robert Turbin, you just can’t drop a touchdown pass in a game of Seahawks-Niners magnitude. Cost your team four points right there, the difference between a touchdown and the field goal Seattle settled for. And Ben Obamanu, you can’t trip over a ghost.
c. That wasn’t a chop block, Walt Anderson. Second blocker blocked the San Francisco defender, Aldon Smith, in the hip/waist, and a second block in a chop-block combo needs to block below the waist.

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